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HEARINGS 



bp:fore the 



3 - MAR" 6 



COMMITTEE ON lI{lf.lT10N OE ARID LANDS 



HOUSE OF IIEPRESENTATIYES, 



RELATING TO 



THE RECLAMATION OF THE ARID LANDS 
OF THE UNITED STATES. 



JANUARY 28 TO PEBEUAEY 9, 1901. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1901. 



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CONTENTS. 



Hearing- January "'S, lOdl . _ . 5 

Statement of Hon. F. G, Newlands. of Nevada .- . 5 

Statement of F. H. Newell, hydrographer, United States Geological 

Survey _ 20 

Statement of George H. Maxwell, chairman of executive committee of 

National Irrigation Association . _ _ _ _ _ . _ 31 

Hearing January 31. 1901. . _. . __ __ ;j7 

Statement of Nelson H. Darton, geologist. United States Geological 

Survey _ . . 37 

Statement of F. H. Newell, hydrographer, United States Geological 

Survey ^ . 43 

Statement of Hon. Frank W. Mondell, of Wj'oming . 61 

Hearing February 7. 1901 (a. m. ) . 71 

Statement of Gilford Pinchot, chief forester, United States Department 

of Agriculture .. .. 72 

State*ment of Hon. J. F. Wilson, of Arizona . 74 

Statement of Hon. Frank W. Mondell, of Wyoming . . .... 81 

Statement of Hon. F. G. Newlands. of Nevada . . , . 8.5 

Statement of Elwood Mead, irrigation expert. United States Department 

of Agriculture . . 88 

Hearing February 7. 1901 (p. m.) ... _ ... ... . 93 

Statement of George H. Maxwell, chairman of executive committee of 

National Irrigation Association . 94 

Statement of Elwood Mead, irrigation expert, United States Department 

of Agriculture . . 99 

Hearing February 9. 1901 ... 108 

Statement of George H. Ma.xwell, chairman of executive committee of 

National Irrigation Association 108 

3 



RECLAMATION OF THE ARID LANDS. 



Committee ox Irrigation of Arid Lands, 

House of Representatives, 
Wasliiiujfoii, I). C, Moiuidij, Jdiniarij .-W, 1901. 
The comiuittee met at 10 o'clock a. ni. 

Present, Representatives Tongne (cliairmau), Barliani, Jenkins, 
Ray, Reeder, Phillips, Sutherland, Wilson, Gaston, and Kinu'. 
Pi-esent, also. Representatives Newlands and Mondell. 
Also Frederick H. Newell, hjalrographer of the Ignited States Geo- 
logical Survey, Washington, I). C, and George H. Maxwell, of San 
Francisco, Cal., chairman of the executive committee of the National 
Irrigation Association. 

STATEMENT OF HON. FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS, OF NEVADA. 

]Mr. Newi.ands. (Gentlemen, I have two bills pending befoi-e this 
committee relating to the reclamation of arid lands. One of those 
bills (II. R. lw'844) is confined entirel\" to the State of Nevada and 
eml)races only one river in that State, the Huml)oldt River, stretching 
from the eastern to the western parti of the State — a distance of 
between 300 and 4(H) miles. The other bill is a general bill (H. R. 
l."JS4t)), relating to the reclamation of arid lands throughout all the 
arid and semiarid States, embracing in its opei-atious thirteen States 
and three Territories — nearly one-tliird of the entire country. 

[H. R. l:i.S4-l, Fifty-sixth (.Congress, second session.] 

A BILL for tlie disposition and settlement of arid lands, and for the constnicti<in of reservoirs 
and necessary hydraulic works for the storage of water on and near the Hiunboldt River, 
Nevada. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and Hon.<ie of Re presenfa fires i>f the United States of 
America in Congress assonhled. That the Geological Survey be, and it is hereby, 
directed to finish surveys and prepare specifications for the complete storage and 
utilization of the fiood and excess waters of Humboldt River in the State of 
Nevada. 

Sec. 2. That the Director of the Geological Survey shall make a report to the 
Secretai-y of the Interior as to each reservoir, diverting canal, or other hydraulic 
work, showing the capacity and cost of construction, also the location of the public 
lands to be reclaimed, as well as all other facts relative to the practi< •ability of the 
utilization of the flood or waste waters. 

Sec. o. That upon the filing of such report, or completed portions thereof, the 
Secretary of the Interior may. in his discretion, withdraw from public entry the 
lands embraced within the reservoir site, at high-water mark, and a strip of land 
three hundred feet in width bordering the same, and also the land for one hundred 
feet on each side of the center line of the diverting canals, or other hydraulic 
works, to be constructed as heretofore noted, together with the public lands 
which it is proposed to irrigate by the waters held in the reservoirs. 

Sec. 4. That for the construction of a reservoir on Rock Creek, a tributary of 
Humboldt River, and diverting canals, there be. and the same hereby is, appro- 
priated the sum of one hundred and thirty-six thousand seven hundred and eighty 
dollars, in accordance with the estimates of the hydraulic engineers of the Geo- 



() AUID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

logical Survey, reported to the Secretary of the Interior, aud printed in Part Four 
of the Twentieth Annual Report of said Survey. 

Sec. 5. That for the construction of the lower Humboldt reservoirs and 
hydraulic works there be, and the same hereby is, appropriated, out of any monej' 
in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of one hundred and forty- 
eight thousand three hundred dollars, as estimated by the hydraulic engineers in 
the respect above named. 

Sec. ij. That upon the completion of each irrigation project hereby specified, or 
hereafter authorized, the public lands to be irrigated hereby shall be subject to 
homestead entry, after notice by the Secretary of the Interior, upon the conditions 
that, in addition to the re(iuirements of the homestead Act. the entryman, upon 
the making of the final proof of settlement, shall i)ay to the Government the sum 
of two dollars and tifty cents per acre, and enter upon an agreement to make fur- 
ther payment, extending over a term of not to exceed ten years, aggregating seven 
dollars and fifty cents per acre, this being in consideration for the use of the stored 
water for the irrigation of said land. And each entryman shall l)e limited to the 
entry and settlement of forty acres. 

Sisc. 7. That in case the reservoirs constructed furnish more water than is 
needed for the reclamation of the public land, or if land in private ownership is 
found better situatt'd for the utilization of the stored waters, then the right to use 
such water may be sold, as hereinafter provided, at the rate of ten dollars per 
acre, payment to extend over a period not to exceed ten years. The amount of 
water to be thus furnished to the land from the storage reservoirs is not to exceed 
two acre-feet for each acre of land, this quantity to be measured at the head of the 
canal, or ditch, diverting the water from the reservoir, or from the natural chan- 
nel, if the latter is used in part for the conveyance of the water. 

Skc. s. That tlie rights to the use df this stored water to the amount above 
limited shall be appurtenant to the laml for which such rights are obtained, and 
shall not be transferable to other lands, but shall be forfeited if not put to bene- 
ficial use. 

Skc. 0. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to make suitable 
rules and regulations for the enforcing of the provisions of this Act. 

|H. H. i:is46, Fifty-sixtli ('niigix-ss. second session.] 

A BILL tu autliDi-ize the cinistriK'tion "i i-csiTvoirs for the sturaae cf water and for other 
hydraulic works lor t!ie rei-Ianiatiun of the piililic lanils \\itbiii the arid and seniiarid land 
States and Territurii's. 

Br it ciKirlcd hji the Sctiatc a mi House of h'cprcsciifdtircs of the United States 
of All/cried ill CoiKjress (isseiiibji'll, That all moneys received from the sale and 
disposal ot pnljlic lands in the arid and semiarid States and Territories beginning 
with the fiscal year ending .Tunc thirtieth, nnieteen hundred and one, excepting 
those set aside by law for educational jiurjioses. shall be reserved and set aside for 
the creation of a fund in the Treasury, to be known as the '• arid land reclamation 
fund," for the construction of reservoirs and other hydraulic works for the stor- 
age and diversion of water for the irrigation and reclamation of arid lands. 

Sec. 2. That the Secretary of the Interior, by means of the Director of the 
Geological Survey, V)e, and hereby is, directed to continue the examination of that 
portion of tiio arid region of the United States where agriculture is carried on liy 
means of irrigation as to the advantages for the storage of water for irrigating 
purposes, of the practicability of constructing reservoirs, together with the 
capacity of the streams and the cost of construction and capacity of reservoirs, 
and such other facts as bear on the question of storage of water for irrigating 
purposes as required by the Act approved March twentieth, eighteen hundred and 
eighty-eight, and also to investigate the practicability of diverting large rivers by 
mi^ans of tunnels or other works, and of providing supplies by means of artesian 
wells. 

Sec. ;!. That the Director of the Geological Survey shall from time to time 
make reports to the Secretar}' of the Interior as to each of various proposed reser- 
voirs, diverting canals, or other methods of procuring water, said reports to show 
the location, cost of construction, (quantity, and location of such land as can be 
irrigated, as well as the other facts relative to the practicability of the enterprise. 

Sk( . 4. That upon the filing of such report the Secretary of the Interior may, in 
his discretion, withdraw from public entry the lands retjuired for reservoir or 
other hydraulic works, together with the "public lands which it is proposed to 
irrigate from such works. 

Sec. .-). That upon the determination by the Secretary of the Interior that each 
of the said ])rojects of reclamation is practicable he shall cause to be let. upon 
proper public notice, contracts for the construction of the same, in whole or in 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 7 

part, payments to be made from the arid land reclamation fund: Provided, That 
no such contract shall be let until the uecessarj' funds are available: And provided 
fartlter. That in all construction work eight hours shall constitute a day's work 
and none but citizen labor shall be employed. 

Sec. 6. That upon the completion of each irrigation project, the total cost thereof 
shall be ascertained and the amount divided pro rata per acre of the lands to be 
irrigated thereby, and that said amount shall be made a charge against the lands 
as the cost of a right to the use of water from said system of irrigation, and that 
said public lands shall be subject to homestead entry, after notice by the Seci'etary of 
the Interior, upon the condition that in addition to the requirements of the home- 
stead Act the entryman shall make payment to the Government of the cost per 
acre of water right as above ascertained, said payment to be made in not to 
exceed ten annual installments, and each entryman shall be limited to the entry 
and settlement of eighty acres, or such lesser amount as the Secretary of the 
Interior may designate, and the moneys thus received shall be covered into the 
arid land reclamation fund: Provided fitrther, That the right to the use of the 
water shall be perpetually appurtenant to the land irrigated, and beneficial use 
shall be the basis, the measure, and the limit of the right. 

Sec. 7. That in case the water thus provided shall be more than sufficient for 
the reclamation of the public lands, or if land in private ownership has been 
found by the survey above authorized to be better suited for the utilization of the 
stored or divided waters, or if there is a sufficiency for both, then the right to use 
such water may be sold at the rate as above ascertained and under the same terms; 
but no water right shall be granted to any landowner or occupant for an amount 
exceeding eighty acres. The proceeds of such sales shall be covered into the arid 
land reclamation fund. 

Sec. 8. That the following shall be considered as arid land and semiarid land 
States and Territories within the meaning of this Act: Arizona, California, Colo- 
rado. Idaho, Kansas, Montana. Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, 
Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota. Utah, Washington, Wyoming. 

Mr. Barham. Will it interrupt you if I ask you a question right 
there as to your first bill (11. R. 12S4-i)? Does that bill eover or include 
a complete watersliedy 

Mr. Newlands. Yes; tlie other is a ijenei-al ])ill. Tlie bill relating; 
to Nevada simply takes up tlie Huml)oldt River, and ju-ovides for the 
construction of two reservoirs, one (Ui Rock Creek, a tributary of that 
river, and the other just adjoining the river, taking advantage of a 
natural depression. Tlie total cost of tliese two enterprises will l)e 
something over 8300, ()( 10. The bill makes an appropriation for this 
amount. It provides tliat the Secretary of the Interior, upon making 
the survey, shall determine what pul^lie lands are subject to this 
storage of water and can be benefited by it; it jirovides that thej- shall 
be withdrawn and set aside, and tliat they can be entered in ai-eas of 
not exceeding- SO acres, subject to a payment of 82.50 for tlie land and 
87.50 for the watei" riglit. 

."Mr. Reeder. I have noted the fact that the average size of irri- 
gation farms in New Mexico is something less tlian 7 acres. My own 
experience is that a man will liave no use for 80 acccs of ii-rigated land 
for the purpose of raising cro])s. 

^Ir. Newlaxds. The unit varies according to the locality. As you 
go to the south, wliere you can cultivate citrous fruits and nuts, and 
tilings of that kind, the unit of entry maybe made very much smaller. 
But in the nortli, wliere you rely mainly upon alfalfa and products 
for fattening cattle, I think the unit of 8t) acres is about right. 

Mr. Reeder. That is true. 

Mr. Newlands. In the second bill which I have di'awn (H. R. 13846), 
the bill for general reclamation, it is provided that the Secretary of 
the Interior maj^ determine the unit of entry (not exceeding 80 acres), 
so that he can adapt tlie unit to the localitv. 

My bill with reference to the Humboldt River (11. R. 12S-t4) also 
provides, as to lands now occupied, that water rights can be acquired 



8 ARID LAND^^ <)F THE nNITP:D STATES. 

upon the payment of 810 an acre. This sum is equal to the entire 
charge for (Government land, inclusive both of the entry and the 
water rights. Remember, it is ^-2. 50 for the land entry and $7.50 for 
the water. 

aAIr. Barham. That gives tlie complete water right for all time? 

Mr. Newlands. Ves, sir; subject, howe\ei', to beneficial use. If 
the water is not used it becomes tV)rfeited. That has now become one 
of the settled docti'ines of the ai'id region— that title depends upon use. 

Now as to the second bill (H. R. lijSiG): 

The second bill relates to the entii-e count I'y, and, in luy Judgment, 
it meets many obj(^ctions which have been urged by our Eastern and 
Southei'u friends against a scheme of national importance. 

In the first place, let me say something upon the (piestion whether 
tliis great work should be intrusted to thell^nited States Government, 
to the States, oi- to private enterprise. 

As to private enterprise, under existing laws it is utterly impossible 
to make i-eclamation, for the reason that any rc^clamation scheme 
involves a. very lai'ge expenditure in the stoi-age of water, a very large 
expenditure in the main canals, and a very large ex[)en(liture in the 
diverting ditches, and it is al)solutely essential to obtain the control 
and the ownership of lai'ge areas of land in order to make a storage 
and reclamation enter[)rise pi-ofitable or even compensatoiy of the 
ex])enditure made. 

The policy of the (government luis nevei' l)een to grant large tracts 
of land to individuals or corpoi-ations. The whole policy of the (tov- 
ernnuMit has l)een against land monopoly and has been intended to 
secure homes for actual settlei's. The entire West was settled up 
under the preempt ion and the h()m(\stead laws. It was found that the 
preemption law was subject to evasion; that it enabled ])eople, in vio- 
lation of the spirit of the law, to acquire control of considerable areas 
of land, and so th'at law was abandoned and we now rely entirely 
upon the homestead law. The latter law provides that a man must 
live upon a ti-act of land for five years before he can get a title to it, 
but it gives liim tiu^ right to commute, after a residence of fourteen 
months ui)()n the land, by the payment of '^1.25 an acre. So tliat 
uidess we revolutionize the policy of th<^ country as to land monopo- 
lies, we must concede that this matter can not be intrusted to private 
cai)ital. 

Now as to State control: We from the West object to the transfer 
of the arid lands to the States, in the first place for the reason that 
many of the States are so impoverished that they would be unable to 
undertake any gi-eat work of this kind, and, in the second place, for 
the reason that they rai-ely exercise a trust of this kind providently. 
In fact, it may be said that they never exei-cise it providently. 

Take the great State of Texas, which owns its own public lands. I 
think it is generally admitted that those lands have been improvi- 
dently parted with. Five millions of acres, I believe, were given in 
one grant for the construction of a State capital, or something of that 
kind; and the result is that Texas, in the near future, Avill be strug- 
gling under the evils of land monopoly, and tliert- will be a general 
protest against it. 

In California we find that the hind grants given l)y the Mexican 
(Government have operated against the develoitment of that State- 
grants involving from -"JO to 200,()0() acres. You may say that the 
owners of those lands will find it to their interest to part with them, 
but that is not human nature. It is human nature to hold on to land. 



ARID LANDS OF THP: UNITED STATES. 9 

The result is that these grants of great areas of land in California 
have seriously impeded tlie development of that State. The tendency 
of a State is, just as soon as it gets a grant, to try to get rid of it as 
soon as possible bj^ realizing upon it. 

Mr. Barham. And the same thing occurred in California in regard 
to swamp and overflowed lands. 

Mr. Newlands. Yes; they fell into the hands of monopolists. 

The Chairman. The same thing occurred in Oregon as to the 
swamp lands there. 

Mr. Xewlands. We want to promote a policy wliicli will induce 
the settlement of the country of which I have l)een spealving in small 
tracts for homes — tracts aggregating in area not more tlian 80 acres; 
and we want oftentimes to make the unit of entry smaller than 80 
acres, according to the character of the cultivation, the climate, and 
the soil. 

What objection is urged against us? The objection in the East is 
that it is proposed to tax the entire country for the improvement of a 
section 

Mr. Barham. One moment, l)efore you get to that question. It is 
an important one; but before you get to it let me ask you this: 

Is it not true that in addition to what you Imve said we have to deal 
with the interstate navigable streams, which a State could not by any 
possibility conti-ol";;' 

Mr. Xewlands. That is true. These interstate questions also pre- 
sent themselves; for there is hardly a State which is watered by a 
river which has not interstate complications. Take the State of 
Nevada, for instance. Three out of its four rivers have their source 
in California. 

Mr. Jenkins. Would not the Federal Government meet with the 
same embarrassment on tlie other side? 

Mr. Newlands. No; l)ecause the operations of tlie Federal Gov- 
ernment, of course, embrace the entire Union. Upon the other hand, 
suppose that a State were entering upon a scheme of State improve- 
ment. It certainly could not, or, at all events, it would be a difficult 
question as to whether it could, erect works outside of the State, in a 
neighboring State, probably subject to the taxation of that State. All 
these eml)arrassments would arise in the administration of a scheme 
of that character, and would form an obstruction to it. But beyond 
all that, I want to place particular emphasis upon the fact that a State 
will not exercise a trust of this character wisely and providently. I 
place more stress upon that i^cjint than upon anything else. 

Recollect, now, that we already have this United States (Geological 
Survey. It has been in operation now for twenty-two years. It has 
the confidence of the people. It has a corps of scientific men who are 
unsurpassed in their line, and those men have made studies of that 
entire Western country for the last twenty years, and are now ])repared 
to undertake this work. 

Mr. Barham. I want to make this suggestion in answer to the ques- 
tion suggested by ]\[r. Jenkins. The Government controls the bridg- 
ing of navigable streams. So, upon a parity of reasoning, the Gov- 
ernment, in legislating upon tliis subject, would also control the 
(luestion of the navigability of the streams to the extent of their being 
affected l)y this irrigation scheme. 

Mr. Jenkins. Yes, Mr. Barham; but that has relation, of course, 
to existing streams. The question in my mind was as to whether or 



10 ARID LANDS (>F THE IGNITED STATES. 

not the Fedenil Government can go into a State and un dertake- it^ 
-rlovelopnieiit. 

Ml". 1)ARHAM. Tliat will raise the question of riparian rights. That 
is proV)al)ly the (juestion here. 

'Hie (;HAIRMAN. I had this (jnestion in mind, Mr. Newlands; it is 
probal)ly the same as that raised by Judge Jenkins. The owners 
along the banks of the streams are entitled to the liow of waters in 
their customary channels. Now, lias the (Tovernment a right to go 
above that, create dams and reservoirs, and then divert the water from 
the streams out over the public lands, so as to prevent its flowing in its 
accustomed ehannels, and so take away a vested i-ight of the citizen? 

Mr. Newlands. That would possibly be a question under the doc- 
trine of riparian rights. 

Mr. Wilson. I tliink I can answer that question, so far as most of 
the arid-land States are concerned. They have, in their State consti- 
tutions, alu'ogated the old docti-iue of ripaian rights. All of the arid- 
land States have done that. iVs far as Llaho is concfu-ned, I was a 
mendjer of the convention which fi-anied its constitution; and the old 
<loctrine has of necessity been abrogated, because the conditions 
existing there made such a step al)solutely essential for the develop- 
ment of the country. So that it is no longer the law in any of those 
States that a sti-eam shall tlow "umliminished in quantity and unde- 
iiled in quality" past a man's land. II can all be ai)propriated and 
divei'ted, and he may be left nothing but the bare channel. That is 
the law in all the arid-land States; and the Sni)reme Court of the 
United States has sustained the State courts in upholding that provi- 
sion of the State constitutions. 

The Chair^ian. Our State (Oregon) has noconstitutional provision 
of the kind. 

Mr. Wilson, ibit most of sour Stati' is not aritl. Thatis the i-eason 
for that. 

JMr. Uarham. California follows the same rule. That is what I 
wanted to get betore this committee, Ix'cause it is a continual t;;tum- 
])ling-block with men who Tinderstand the old English common-law 
system of riparian rights. W(; can get rid of thati <lifficulty easily 
enough, however, in tlie ai'i<l-land district. That was the point I 
Avanted to make. 

3Ir. Newlands. There are some of these States — I imagine Califor- 
nia is one and Oregoii is another — which have not as j'et reached the 
advanced doctrine of the intermountaiu States. Mr. Wilson states 
the fact regarding those States. They have entirely done away with 
this doctrine of ri[)arian rights. IJut pi-actically the question will not 
arise, for, recollect, it is only the flood waters that are stored in these 
reservoirs; and in most of llie arid-land States the doctrine is now 
recognized that when a man stoics water he is entitled to take it out 
])(dow, using the stream simply as a channel for carrying his water, 
and his title to it is recognized. Laws to that effect have been jiassed 
in ai number of States. 

]\Ir. Jenkins. It is rather a question in my mind be>ond the doc- 
trine of riparian rights. Of course, when we talk about riparian 
rights we ordinarily refer to the rights of a party on a stream already 
in existence. Now, we are making quite a departure. We are sug- 
gesting the idea of the Federal Government going into a State and 
taking possession of lands there, and making a canal, so to speak, for 
the purpose of conducting water. A person living on that stream 
would not have what we call riparian rights. lie would only have 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 11 

what might he called statutory rights. Rijparian rights are coiniiion- 
law rights. 

Mr. Barham. lielonging to the State. 

Mr. Jenkins. They may belong to the State, and individuals may 
have riparian rights. But inasmuch as I am going to be largely 
influ'enced by gentlemen like Mr. Newlands (who lives in a locality 
interested in this matter, and who has had large experience with these 
questions), I want to see whether or not he has considered what I 
consider the fundamental question involved in this matter, which is 
as to the j)Ower of the Federal Government and tlie power of the 
States^ — whether it would be necessary to unite the two, or whether 
the Federal Government can go on absolutely independent of the 
States. I raise that question here because I am going to ask to be 
excused in a moment. This is a matter in which I am greatly inter- 
ested; but we want to prepare amendments on several District bills 
which we hope to get up. 

Mr. Xewlands. Will you allow me to pass the question which you 
have raised for a moment, so that I can explain the provisions of this 
second bill? I would like you to understand it. 

This second general bill (11. R. i;)S4(3) is intended to meet the objec- 
tion that the entire country is to be taxed for the improvement of a 
particular section. Of course, we think that is a vei-y narrow view, but 
this bill is intended t(^ meet it. There seems to be a general disposi- 
tion, on the part of those Avho oppose the Government going into this 
work, to grant these lands to the arid States and let them settle these 
complications themselves. We are opposed to that. course, because 
we want the Government to undertake this work. 

Mr. Jenkins. Independent of your opposition, it would not be either 
right or practicable or l)eneticial. 

Mr. Newlands. No; now, this general bill (II. R. l.')84<'.) which I 
present provides that all moneys received from the sale of pul)lic lands 
in the arid and semiarid States shall be put into a special fund in the 
Treasury, to he called the ''arid-land reclamation fund." It provides, 
then, that the Secretary of the Interior, through tlie (Geological Sur- 
vey, shall make plans and estimates of the cost and the feasibility of 
irrigation schemes through the arid and semiarid States, and that 
wherever the Department of the Interior deems a plan practicable it 
shall withdraw the lands embraced within that plan from the general 
operation of the land laws. It then provides that the construction of 
these works shall l)e commenc(Ml, and that the lands subject to them 
shall be subject to entry, under the homestead law, in ai'eas not exceed- 
ing SO acres; that the total cost of each project shall be fastened pro 
rata upon the acreage l^enetitcd l)v it, and that that total cost shall 
be repaid in ten annual installments. The money i-aised in this man- 
ner is to go into the "arid-land reclamation fund," and to l)e used 
over and over again in other enterprises of a similar character. 

This bill creates a revolving fund, derived from the sale of public 
lands in the region that will be reached by it. The plan suggested 
will ])e self-operating; in fact, almost automatic. It will recpiire no 
further action by the Congress and no appropriation from the Con- 
gress except the devotion of these moneys to this particular purpose. 

Mr. Sutherland. Does the bill provide for a system of artesian 
wells for experimental purposes'? 

Mr. Newlands. Yes; it provides for reservoirs, for the diversion 
of rivers, and also for artesian wells, as a part of the project. It puts 
the whole thing under the control of the Secretary of the Interior and 



12 ARID LANDS ()F THK UNITED STATES. 

tlie Dii-eclor of tlie Geological Survey. It permits the Secretary, 
wlieii a project is determined to l>e feasible, to let contracts for the 
construction, either in whole or in sections; and it provides that uo 
conti-act shall be made unless the money for its payment is already in 
tills fund. It also provides, as to lands already occupied, that if there 
is more water stoi-ed than is sufficient for the public lands, or if it can 
be used more conveniently upon lands already occupied, water rights 
can there be granted in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, 
subject to the same payments; l>ut the condition is made that he shall 
not grant a water right of more than 80 acres to any one person. 

As you see, the ett'ect of that provision will be to gradually destroy 
the existing land monopoly. In the State of Nevada wc have a land 
grant of 2,(H)(),()00 acres, given by the (leneral Government for the 
school fund there. That land has been most iniprovideutly granted 
by the State; and tlu^ result is that the whole of it is now held in very 
large tracts l»y individuals. There is one man, in one of the richest 
valleys on the Humboldt River, who owns 14,000 acres — half of it 
acijuired under the school grant and half of it acquired through the 
raili'oad grant. These lands are directly on the river, and could be 
divided up into tracts of 40 or MO acres, which would supi)ort hundreds 
of families. 

Suppose this reser\oir scheme goes through. This man, of course, 
would like to get IVom the (Tcueral (Government water rights for his 
whole 14,000 acres. He could not do it. The Government saj^s to 
him, "You must divide up your territory into SO-acre farms; then 
we will grant each one of tho.se men a water right for 80 acres, ui)on 
the i)a3nnent of a proportionate part of the entire cost in ten annual 
payments." Such a provision does no injustice to the landowner, for 
the very presence and execution and completion of this project gives 
additional value to his land, enabling him to sell it at a better price. 

Air. Jenkins. Will not a large (piantity of these lands be benefited 
by the fact that other lands around them are improve<rr' 

Mr. Newlands. Oh, yes. There is no question that projects of 
this kind would increase the values of all the adjoining lands which 
are in private occupancy, 1)ecause tliere is cei-tain to be moi-e or less 
seepage or pei'colation of water 

Mr. Jenkins. Gan not that improvement be assessed on those lands, 
just as in the case of street improvements? 

Mr. Newlands. I think it would l)e difficult to do that; but I do 
not consider it necessary. I tliink it would l)e a very comi)licated 
matter. 

Mr. Reedek. It would be almost impossible to estimate it. 

Mr. Newlands. This bill also i)ro\ ides that moneys received from 
the sale of pul)lic lands for the fiscal year ending June 30, I'.iOl, shall 
go into this fund. That fiscal year is about half completed, and it 
would provide, I flunk, between' 81,000,000 and Jt^i, 000,000. The pub- 
lic-land sales during the last six or se\'(ui y<'ars have ranged from 
.i58(;4,ooo in 18!)7 up to s2,8;>(J,ooO in I'.ioo. 

'i'lie Ghairman. Does your bill provide for putting the pi'oceeds of 
the entire sales of the public lands into this fund? 

Mr. Newlands. Yes; sinii)ly in the ai-id ami scuniarid States, 
however. 

^Fr. Sutherland. ^^)u make no direct ai»propriation as a begin- 
ning, do youV 

:\[r. Newlands. No; we simply dedicate the funds that have been 
received for this fiscal year to this fund, and those moneys form the 



AEID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 13 

commencement of the fund. In this entire arid and semiarid region 
there are about 000,000,000 acres of land. Tlie most intelligent esti- 
mate is that tlie total amount to be reclaimed by irrigation will not 
exceed 75,000,000 acres. In some jilaces the estimate is given as 
100,000,000 acres, but I think 75,000,000 acres is a better estimate. 
It will take thirty or forty years, or perhai)s fifty years, to accomplisli 
that. So it means simply the gradual reclamation of these lands. In 
addition to tliat, it means that a greater value will be given to the 
other lands which are now used as pasture lands. 

Mr. Sutherland. Do I understand that 75,000,000 is the sum total 
of the acres of land out of the (iOO,0()0,000 that could possibly be 
reclaimed, in all? 

Mr. Newlands. Yes; in all. 

Now, what do we say as to the 525,000,000 acres remaining":' That is 
all pasture land, mountain land. Thei'c is free range there at present. 
The Government gets nothing from it. The result of the improved 
cultivation of the valleys and river bottoms will be that there will be 
a more provident system of cattle and sheep raising in that country. 
At present it is most improvident, because the cattle and sheep range 
over those vast areas of land, and when a terrific snowstorm comes on 
in the winter, concealing the grasses, they perish by the thousands. 
Now, the provident system of cattle i-aising means that great quanti- 
ties of hay will be stored in the valleys just for such purposes, and if 
the agricultural regi(m is increased in that way the pasture conditions 
will vastly improve, and some method will V)e devised for selling or 
leasing these pasture lands. The total cash receipts f i-om the disposal 
of jiublic lands during each fiscal year, from July 1, 1S05, to June 30, 
1!)00, from the report- of the Secretary of the Treasury, aiv as follows: 

1895 $1.1U3,;547 | 1898 $1,243,129 

189(3 1, 005, 52:J i 1899. . 1, 678, 246 

1897 864.581 : 1900, 2,836,883 

Mr. Jenkins. I understood they were not selling pul)lic lands now. 
Am I wrong in that? 

Mr. Wilson. The desert-land law, which is the only general law 
now on the statute books (besides the homestead law) authorizing the 
disposition of pul)lic lands, jn-ovides that the applicant shall pay $1.25 
an acre for the land after reclaiming it, and under the homestead 
law, when the entryman commutes at the end of fourteen months, he 
pays $1.25 an acre. In a great nmny States where Indian reserva- 
tions have been opened there have been, until the passage of the free- 
homestead law last session, provisions that various sums, ranging 
from $1.25 to $3.75 an acre, should be x)aid for land. It is from these 
various sources that this money comes. The homesteader who lives 
on his land for five Nears pays nothing for it, except the Land Office 
fees. A great nmny of them commute. A man who wants to get his 
title before that time does this. Judge Jenivins is right when he says 
that the homesteader who lives on his land five .years pays nothing for 
the land. All of the otliers, however, do. 

Mr. Jenkins. I understood that public lands were not now for sale. 

Mr. Wilson. They are not for sale; they are not sold. You know 
that the title to a great deal of land in the arid region is secured through 
the desert-land law, and for all of that land you must pay $1.25 an 
acre. That, I supj)ose, amounts to a great many hundreds of thou- 
sands of dollars. 

Mr. IJarham. Then your scheme would include the expenditure of 
about $750,000,000 at $lo an acre? 



14 ARID LANDS < »F THE UNITED STATES. 

Mr. Newlands. That isassniniiig tliat the reclaiuatioii will cost 110 
ail acre. Much of it costs much less. 

■Mr. Wilson. But, just there, a great many millions of acres will be 
reclaimed by private individuals during this time. For instance, 
hundreds of thousands of acres in each State are continually being- 
reclaimed by private individuals, so that tlu^ (government will never 
be called upon to expend that •i57.')( »,()()< ),(Hio. I do not suppose a fourth 
of it will be expended. 

Mr. Newlands. Whatever is (h)n(' makes no difference, because 
under the automatic regulation of this bill we simply put the moneys 
received from the sale of lands into the reclamation fund, and go on 
with more work, and there is no expense to the Government. 

Mr. Wilson. A (luestion with regard to your bill l)efore you sit 
down. 

'rh<' law now provides that 5 per cent of the receipts for the sale of 
public lands shall go to the States for school purposes. Of course we 
do not want to repeal that law. 

Mr. Newlands. No; there is also a bill now i)eiiding, which has 
passed the Senate, which organizes scliools of mines and makes those 
schools of mines a charge upon the public-land fund. I will put an 
exemption in the l)ill pi'oviding that all moneys received from the sale 
(^f lands, except those devoted to educational purposes, should be 
used for this purpose. That exemption would include this 5 per 
cent of which you speak. 

Mr. Wilson. To illustrate how these 75,()00,()()() acres will never 
have to be reclaimed by the General Government: I have in mind an 
irrigation system \vhere I live. There are 75,(H)0 acres under the 
canal. There are 20,()UU acres under cultivation — a high state of cul- 
tivation, mostly fruit cultivation. The canal has been constructed 
five or six years, but it is being enlarged now, so that that canal 
would uinhnibtedly irrigate the whole 75,0(K) acres. The Govern- 
ment will never be called upon to iri-igate an acre of it. In fact it 
would not be permitted to do so. The land is very valuable. So 
there you have the difference between 20,(H)0 and 75,000, or 55,000 
acres under one canal, in one State, that would be taken out. I sup- 
pose thei'e are a great many instances like that. 

Mr. Newlands. Now, I want to say one word, if you will permit 
me, about the State of Nevada itself. I presume what I say with i-ef- 
erence to it will illustrate the conditions in other States. 

\Ve have a i>opulatioii of only 43,(»0O. Twenty years ago we had 
<'io,0( )( t. It is not generally known that Nevada has produced more of the 
precious metals than any other State of the Union. Over -S()00,000,000 
worth of precious metals liave lieen produced there; but the profits 
received from the m iiies have all gone out of the State. There has never 
been organized there a commercial emporium like Salt Lake City or 
Denver, at which enterprises could be conducted throughout the 
ent-ii-e State. The agriiniltural interests have never been promoted. 
The mining intei-ests are so pi'ofitable that everything in the State is 
of a speculative character; and when the mine depression came, 
through the fall in tlie price of silver, there was no general, equal, 
harmonious develoiJiiieiit in the State that could withstand the etfects 
of that depression. So that we must now take liold of Nevada and 
l)uild it up, and we must start with the l>asis of every Commonwealth — 
agricultui-<'. 

Now, the farmers of that State have already taken up the lands 
adjoining the rivers. It does not cost much to do that. They simply 



AKID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 15 

dig a ditch and carry the water over the adjacent hind and irrigate it. 
But the measure of that kind of cultivation is the condition of the 
stream at its very lowest flow, instead of its highest flow, and the low- 
est flow comes at the time when water is most needed — in July and 
August. These farms, therefore, are very limited, and Miierever any- 
body else now takes uj) a farm and proposes to water it, he flnds an 
abundance of water in April, May, and perhaps in June, and no water 
at all at the time when it is most needed. So that it is utterly impos- 
sible to continue tlie agricultural development of Nevada under exist- 
ing conditions. 

You will ask, " Is there' water that can be secured for these lands'?" 
We have four large rivers — one, the Hundjoldt River, stretching from 
the eastern jiai't of tlie State to the western, a distance of about 400 
miles, with one of the richest valleys in the world. The lower part 
of the valley is as rich as the valley of the Nile. Wells have been 
dug 100 feet deep and never gotten to the bottom of the soil. It is a 
rich, alluvial deposit that will produce everything. 

What is the character of that river? It is a torrent in the latter 
part of March, Api-il, and May, and it is a mere thread in July, 
August, and September. Where do those waters go? They flow into 
a sink of the desert called Humboldt Lake. The water is in the low- 
est part of the desert, and of course it is impossible to utilize it, 
because it is impracticable to lift water for the purpose of irrigating 
land. Dependence must be placed upon gravity. 

That lake measures the unutilized water of the river. The prob- 
lem is to substitute for that lake artificial lakes at the sources of the 
tributaries of the Humboldt River and along the river itself in natural 
depressions, where dams can be inexpensively constructed and the 
water can be held so that it can flow by gravity to these lands where 
it is most required. 

The other three rivers of which I have spoken take their source in 
the Sierra Nevada Mountains, which are the source of the great rivers 
of California (the Sacramento, the King River, and the San Joaquin 
River); but their watei-s flow to the east instead of to the west, as the 
California rivers do. The California rivers flow into the ocean and 
lose their waters there. Our waters flow into gj'cat lakes in the sink 
of the desert, and there is at the foot of the Truckee River a lake 35 
or 40 miles long, 10 or 15 miles wide, in the sink of the desert, which 
measures the unutilized water of the river. There is at the foot of 
the Carson River a similar lake called Carson Lake. Then there is 
at the foot of the Walker River a similar lake called Walker Lake, 
an immense sheet of water, and so on. Storage in these lakes is com- 
paratively inexpensive. The whole matter has heen investigated at 
the source of the Truckee River. We find that water can be very 
inexpensively stored there, and that hundreds of thousands of acres 
can be brought under reclamation if it is so stored. 

"Now," 3'ou ask, "why is it not done by private enterprise?" 
The people of the Truckee Valley only have 30,000 acres under cul- 
tivation. They are prosperous, but still they are only small farmers, 
having 160 acres of land axiiece. They are unable to comprehend a 
big scheme of this kind, and thej^ have not the means to carry it out 
in any event. Besides that, they have the water for their land, and 
that is all they need. Now, Ave want to enter up other lai-ge areas of 
land belonging to the Government. Who is to do it? You do not 
want to make a grant to a corporation for the i^urpose of doing it, 
because that tends to land monopol}'. You do not allow individuals 



16 ARID LANDS ( »F THE UNITED STATES. 

to take out large tracts, for tliai lends to land monopoly. The ques- 
tion is whether it is not tlie obligation and the duty of the Govern- 
ment,, which is the owner of this land, to see to it that it is put in 
coudition for settlement. You survey land in order to put it in a 
condition foi- settlement. If it is iiecessary, in addition to that, to 
survey tlie watei-s tliat sup[)ly it ; is not tluit a governmental duty and 
obligation, just as the survey of the land is? It ])elongs to tlie Gov- 
ernment. It is an obligation, a duty, that belongs to it ])y reason of 
its owiui'rship. A})ar1 fi'om its governmental capa.city, if that is done, 
Nevada will advance, and evei'ything else will advance. It will tend 
to the development of her mineral wealth. As it is, Nevada has a 
"black eye.'' We have l)een served l)y a railroad which never has 
made an ettOrt to col(>ni/<^ it. Why? IJeeause the Central Pacific 
Railroad was owned by the pi'omoltM's of the Southern Pacific. The 
8(mtheru Pacific was a through, lianscontinental line, and they 
wanted their business to go on the long haul, and all jiossible ])usi- 
ness was tli verted to the Southern Pacific. Then they liad a difficulty 
with the Federal Government upon the question of subsidy; and the 
result of the discussion was that the popular impi-ession was created 
throughout the country that that ]-ailroad was woi-thless, and that the 
Government ought to practically give it away, because it passed 
through a worthless State. PAer}' othei- ti-aiiscontinental I'oad has 
lieen the colonizei- of (^V(^JT State through whicli it has passed. Tlie 
road was built first and the ccnmlry settled afterwards. 

We I'egard this State, in effect, as a raib'oad "bi-idge" fi'om Ogden 
to California. Now, just look ail tlirougji the territory to the north 
and south. What do you find? Seven or eight interm(^)untain States 
or Territories whose populations, in the past twenty years, have 
increased thi-eefold. Nevada's [)opulation has diminished one-third. 
Now, natTir(^ did not give all the advantages to these otlier States that 
sui'round hei-. Nevada has the same advantages. ^Phe whole (jues- 
tion is on*' of go\ei'nnien1al and i-ailroad })oIicy. 

^Ir. \\'ii.S()N. Is it not a fact that Nevada has increased wherever 
there were agricultural settlements? 

Mr. Newlands. Ves; Keno is now t he lea<ling town in the State, 
through its location in an agricultural country. 

JNlr. 1)A1;ham. In otlier words, theiv are large I'arnis where alfalfa 
and all that sort of thing grow. There ar<' just as beautiful agricul- 
tural interests there as any in the world. 

]Mr. Newlanps. I ask sjiecial consideration for Neva<la. I believe 
in this general I'eclamalion scheme, if you are disjiosed to consider 
that, but I ask special considei'ation for Nevada. Recollect, it was 
pulled into the Pnion in 1S(;4 against its will. Its ])eople rejected 
their constitution in the first ])lace. They did not feel that they had 
a ])opulation sufticient to sustain tlie burden of statehood But the 
patriotic men of Washington sent- telegrams there, as did the Rejinb- 
lican newspa|iers, urging them that it was a i)atriotic dnty on their 
pari- to come in to assist in reconsi inicting legislation; and they aequi- 
esce(l and came in. 

Mr. 1)AKHAM. Now, I woidd like to have your opinion on this prop- 
osition: Does not your bill, after all, amount to an appro})riation of 
public funds, because the lu-oceeds of the sale of these lands w^ould 
go into the Treasury of the Pniled States? What I want to get at, 
then, is this: \\'ould it not be just as w«dl to come squarely before 
the peo[)le and say, "A^"e i)i"oi)ose to appropriate enough public funds 
to carry out this project, until the money is paid liack into the Treas- 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 17 

ury of the United States. We will assess these lands at the rate, say, 
of 75 cents or 11 an acre, until all of the money appropriated to carrj- 
out this great scheme has been repaid to tlie Treasury," just as was 
done in the case of the Union, Central, and Western Pacific railroads. 
Wliat I mean to say is, why do we not go right square at the proposi- 
tion, and say, "Gentlemen, here is what the people want" — and they 
do want it, I believe — instead of pretending to dodge around by say- 
ing that "the sale of the arid lands is going to pay this money;" 
because they will understand that themselves. Take the bull squarely 
by the horns, and appropriate the money out of tlie Treasury of the 
United States, with the tax of so much an acre, sufficient to ultimately 
repay the Government, and let whoever uses it — railroads, private 
owners, or anybodj' else— pay 75 cents or $1 an acre. Give the pref- 
erence to the homesteader, but make it 80 aci'es to the settler. 

Mr. Newlands. Well, I doubt whether the Government could enter 
upon a scheme of assessing lands in the States for local improvements 
in the States. 

Mr. Barham. Now, what I mean is, if private owners or railroads 
use this water, tliey should paj" 61 an acre for it. 

Mr. Newlands. If they use it. 

Mr. Barham. If thej^ use it; yes. Now, as to the public lands, of 
course we can make any rule we please about them. Now, why not 
go squarely before the people and say: "Yes, it will develop the rail- 
road lands; it will develop the lands of the State; and we will assess 
them ^1 an acre, or 75 cents an acre, or whatever will ultimatelj^ repay 
the Government? " 

Mr. Newlands. I have no objection to that at all. On the con- 
trary, I would advocate it; and I have a bill — H. R. 14072 — drawn up 
on that basis — a bill after the pattern of the river and harbor bill — 
making a specific approj)riation at this time for the commencement of 
projects which have already been planned and estimated upon by the 
Geological Survey and providing for estimates (as in the case of tlie 
river and harbor bill) for work that is projected. Each member of 
Congress has the right to go before the committee and present his 
project, and ask for an estimate and a plan regarding it. I am in 
favor of such a bill. But we find that those who ai"e opposed to this 
scheme of the Government paying out moneys for the reclamation of 
lands are willing to grant the lands to the States. If they are willing 
to grant the lauds to the States, they ought to be willing to set aside 
the proceeds from the sales. 

[H. R. 14073, Fifty-sixth Congress, second session.] 

A BILL For the construction of public works regulating the flow of the rivers of the arid region 
of the United States, storing the water, and continuing surveys. 

Be it enacted by the Senate aiid Hoiise of Rejivefieiitafives of tlie United States of 
America in Congress assembled. That the following sums of money be, and are 
hereby, appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise 
appropriated, to be immediately available and to be expended under the direction 
of the Secretary of the Interior and the supervision of the Director of the Geolog- 
ical Survey, for the construction, completion, and operation of the storage and 
reclamation works hereinafter named and for the surveys hereinafter named, 

ARIZONA. 

Toward the construction of a dam and reservoir on Gila River, Arizona, near 
San Carlos, as described in the report entitled Water Supply Paper Numbered 
Thirty-three, of the United States Geological Survey, one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars. 

11196—01 2 



18 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

CALIFORNIA. 

Toward the construction of dams on Kings River, at the locality known as 
Clarks Valley, as descriljed in Senate Document Numbered Fifty-nine, of the 
Fifty-sixth Congress, second session, fifty thousand dollars. 

Toward the c^onstruction of the Hetcii Hetchy Reservoir, as described in the 
Twenty-first Annual Report. Part Four, of the United States Geological Survey, 
page four hundred and sixty-five, fifty thousand dollars. 

For construction of a reservoir on Clear Lake, California, fifty thousand dollars. 

MONTANA. 

Toward the construction of the nine miles of diversion canal from Saint ^Mary 
River. Montana, as described in the rei)ort of the United States Geological Survey, 
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 



Toward the construction of a reservoir on Rock Creek. Nevada, as described in 
the Twentieth Annual Report, Part Four, United States Geological Survey, page 
four hundred and forty-five, thirty thousand dollars. 

Toward the construction of reservoirs and diversion works on Humboldt River, 
in Nevada, as described in the Twentieth Annual Report, Pai't Four. United States 
Geological Survey, forty thousand dollars. 

Toward the construction of reservoirs on the Tnickee River, in California and 
Nevada, as described by the United States Geological Survey, eighty thousand 
dollars. 

WYOMING. 

For the construction of a reservoir on Grey Bull River, Wyoming, as described 
by the United States Geological Survey, forty-nine thousand nine hundred and 
sixty-two dollars. 

ARIZONA. 

For surveying sites in Arizona, determining amount of water in Gila and Salt 
rivers, including Santa Cruz River, and investigating artesian conditions, six 
thousand dollars. 

CALIFORNIA. 

For survey's in northern California of reservoir sites on head waters of Kings, 
Kern, and San -Joaquin rivers, ten thousand dollars. 

For the examination and mapping of underground waters in San Joaquin Val- 
ley, California, five thousand dollars. 

For the examination and mapping of underground waters in San Bernardino 
Valley, California, five thousand dollars. 

For the examination of tlie country adjacent to Colorado River, in California 
and Arizona, and estimates of cost of utilizing the Colorado River by pumping or 
by gravity canals, eleven thousand dollars. 

COLOltADD. ~ 

For surveys in Colorado of reservoir sites on head waters of Platte River, four 
thousand dollars. 

For the examination of the feasibility of storing water in northeastern Colorado, 
three thousand dollars. 

For the examination of reservoir sites on Arkansas River and Rio Grande, in 
Colorado, eight thou.sand dollars. 

For reconnoissance for diver.sion of <Tunnison River, in southwestern Colorado, 
five thousand dollars. 

For the examination of underground waters and drilling test well in eastern 
Colorado, sixteen thousand dollars. 

IIiAUO. 

For a survey for diversions of water from Snake River, Idaho, and obtaining 
underground waters on Snake River iilains, five thousand dollars. 

For examination of reservoir sites on head waters of Boise, Weiser, and Payette 
rivers, of eastern Idaho, four thousand dollars. 

KANSAS. 

For drilling test well in northwestern Kansas, .sixteen thousand dollars. 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 19 

MONTANA. 

For the continuation of the Saint Mary River surveys, Montana, seven thousand 
dollars. 

For the continuation of the Madison River, Helena survey, Montana, five thou- 
sand dollars-. 

For the diversion of waters from Yellowstone River, Montana, eleven thousand 
dollars. 

NEBRASKA. 

For drilling test well, 'adjacent to southwestern Nebraska, fifteen thousand 
dollars. 

NEVADA. 

For the continuation of reservoir survej's on Carson, Muddy. Virgin, and Walker 
rivers. Nevada, ten thousand dollars. 

For investigation of artesian conditions in Lemon and Warm Spring and other 
valleys in Nevada, five thousand dollars. 

NEW MEXICO. 

For survey of reservoir sites on Rio Grande, New Mexico, si.v; thousand dollars. 

NORTH DAKOTA. 

For continuation of mapping of underground waters in 'North Dakota, three 
thousand dollars. 

OREGON. 

For continuation of examination of deep waters in northwestern Oregon, four 
thousand dollars. 

For exploration for reservoir sites on head waters of Owyhee and Malheur 
rivers. Oregon, five thousand dollars. 

SOUTH DAKOTA. 

For the investigation of deep waters in western part of South Dakota, drilling 
test well, fifteen thousand dollars. 

TEXAS. 

For water storage in trans-Pecos, Texas, five thousand dollars. 

UTAH, 

For surveys of storage reservoirs on the Sevier River, four thousand dollars. 

For the examination of head waters of Provo and Weber rivers, Utah, three 
thousand dollars. 

For reconnoissance for diversion of Grand and Green rivers, in southeastern 
Utah, five thousand dollars. 

WASHINOTON. 

For surveys of reservoir sites on head waters of Yakima River. Washington, 
and tributaries, six thousand dollars. 

For the examination of artesian conditions of central Washington, four thou- 
sand dollars. 

WYOMING. 

For survevs of storage and diversion of Green River. Wyoming, and tributaries, 
six thousand dollars. 

For surveys for conservation of water on North Platte River, Wyoming, four 
thousand dollars. 

]Mr. Barham. That has not been the shuwinu- before this comiivittee. 
I have been here for six years; and while nearly every one of ns was 
in favor of g-ranting- the lauds to the States, yet the people take the 
same view of it that you do — that the same resnlt would follow as was 
the case in regard to the California land grants of swamp and over- 



20 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

flowed lands; and tliese men wonld ultimately come into the ownership 
of large tracts of land, ruining the very object intended. The people 
are not in favor of granting the land to the State. 

Mr. Newlands. I am not talking about the people. I am talking 
about objectors in Congress. The men who object to the reclamation 
of the arid lands of the West say, "If you will bring in a bill granting 
the arid lands to the West, we will acquiesce." 

Yery well; now, I reply to them, "We do not want to grant all the 
lands, because we know that these lands will be improvidently dis- 
posed of. We want you to hold them, but we want you to turn over 
the proceeds of those lands (which is the same thing) to a fund for 
reclamation purjioses." Now, I admit that the purpose of this bill is 
to- do away with the o])jection which is urged by these men — an objec- 
tion which I do not regard as reasonable. 

There is another thing: They say, "We commence to-day with an 
appropriation of one, two, three, or four million dollars. How do we 
know but tliat next year, or five years from now, we will be called 
upon for fifty millionsV There is room for the exercise of the greatest 
imagination about it." But this bill absolutely limits the expendi- 
tures to the amount that is in the fund, and it limits the fund itself to 
the proceeds of these lands; so that it absolutely relieves the minds 
of these men of this apprehension of the commencement of a great 
scheme that is intended to tap the puT)lic treasury for the benefit of a 
particular section. 

Mr. Sutherland. And it places no burden upon the General Gov- 
ernment at all? 

Mr. Nev^lands. It places no burden upon the General Government 
at all; it makes it simply a trustee for the improvement and disposal 
of these lands. 

Mr. Barham. Do you not think the people understand this question 
quite as well as you do? 

Mr. Newlands. No; I do not think they do understand it. 

Mr. Barham. Then we ought to educate them. 

Mr. Newlands. We have been working upon this matter now for 
twenty years, and so far Ave never have gotten, in legislation, the 
entering wedge. I find that in talking to many members of Congress 
to-day about it there is a great deal of ignorance on the subject, and 
nu)re inertia and a general disposition to wait. Now, gentlemen, I do 
not Avant to wait any longer. 

I would be very glad to get an appropriation such as you suggest, 
I think it is a good way of proceeding — just as got)d as the way I sug- 
gest. But I claim that this bill will accomplish the purpose that we 
want, and that it will do away with a lot of the objections that are 
presented by men who are opposed to the Government's entering upon 
these reclanuition schemes. 

(Authority was given by the chairman to ]Mr. Newlands and the 
other speakers to extend their renmrks in the record.) 

STATEMENT OF FREDERICK H. NEWELL, HYDROGRAPHER, 
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

FIMr. Newell. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, this question is so 
large that it is difhcult for me to take up any one item without enter- 
ing into the whole subject; but I think that the great question which 
has been brought up is the function of the General Government in the 
West. 



AEID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 21 

The General Government, the people of the United States, are the 
owners of from three-qnarters to nine-tenths of all the land in the 
West. In Nevada the people of the United States own 98 per cent of 
the State. They have, as owners, rights in those States which the 
States themselves do not have. The States have sometimes only the 
taxing power over from 1 per cent to 5 jier cent or 10 or even 15 ])er 
cent of their area, as in the case of California. 

The people of the United States are supreme in their control. 
Whenever any of the public land is disposed of they have reserved 
the rights for ditches and canals constructed by the authority of the 
United States. ^ 

Mr. Reeder. That is a reservation in the transfers of land, is it not? 

Mr. Newell. I think it is in all patents for land west of the one 
hundredth meridian. Even if the Government did not own an acre 
of land in those States, it has set the precedent of going in and stor- 
ing waters wheix^ver, in its judgment, it sees fit. In the case of Min- 
nesota and Wisconsin the Government has built large reservoirs at 
the head waters of the Mississippi River, and is operating those reser- 
voirs, irresi^ective of any riparian rights which may be conserved. 

Mr. Reeder. For wliat are they operating those reservoirs? 

Mr. Newell. For the benefit of navigation ; incidentally to improve 
the water power at Minneapolis. The Government owns the reservoirs 
and has appropriated over 11,000,000 in this way. In the present 
river and harbor bill, I think, there are large items for continuing the 
erection of these reservoirs. 

The Chairman. There is $300,000 appropriated for that purpose in 
the present bill (H. R. 13189 : Reserv^oirs at the liead waters of the Mis- 
sissii^pi River; continuing improvement, 8300,000). The committee 
regards that as a bad inheritance; but still that does not affect the 
question with reference to this matter. 

Mr. Newell. A similar condition exists in California, where the 
Government, in conjunction with the State, is building debris reser- 
voirs which necessarily regulate the flow of tlie stream, to keep the 
washings from the hydraulic works from getting into the streams and 
destroying the agricultural lands below, and injuring the navigability 
of the streams. There is still a third and a larger project whicli the 
Government has entered upon, and which it is committed to extend 
still further; and that is the policy of forest protection for the benefit 
of agriculture. 

The forest lands throughout the West are being placed in large 
reservations, irrespective of State lines, for the purpose of regulating 
the stream flow. Those forest reserves include the mountain areas in 
which the land is not good for anything except the growth of trees. 
They are so regulated that mining can be carried on without obstruc- 
tion; and it is proposed to so control them that timber can be cut and 
used, and yet the forests not be destroyed, but the cover retained 
for the protection of the streams. One step further must be taken, 
and that is, that the reservoir sites within those great forest areas 
shall be reserved, and reservoirs shall be constructed to still further 
regulate the flow of the streams, which is partially done b}^ the pres- 

' Provided, That in all patents for lands hereafter taken up under any of the 
land laws of the United States or on entries or claims validated by this act west of 
the one hundredth meridian, it shall be expressed that there is reserved from the 
lands in said patent described a right of way thereon for ditches or canals con- 
structed by the authority of the United States. (Approved August 30, 1890. 
Stat. L., vol. 36, p. 391.) 



22 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ervation of the forests. In that way the precedent is already estab- 
lislied for Governmental eonti'ol and Governmental action in these 
matters. 

The Geological Snrvey has been concerned with this matter since 
]SSH, Avhen it was anthorized by Congress to investigate the extent to 
wliich the arid lands conld be reclaimed by irrigation. In that and 
all subsequent legishitiou there has been no recognition especiallj" of 
public lands, but simply of arid lands. The policy seems to be well 
established that Congress shall consider the questions of the ntiliza- 
tioii of the lands which are now arid, which are now praeticallj^ use- 
less, but whicli under a better form of law and administration may be 
made to contriliute to the welfare and the wealth of the nation as a 
whole. That view of it this committee must take— that it is concerned 
not with public lands (which of course come within the function of 
the Pul)lic Lands Committee), but with the whole subject of making 
available the lands, no matter whether of private. State, or Govern- 
ment ownersliip, which are not now contributing to public welfare, 
but which can l)e made to do so by the exercise of reasonable business 
melJiods. 

If the limit of reclamation is 75,0(10,000 acres, this does not mean 
that the United States Government must leclaim all of those acres, 
au}^ more than in dredging out a harbor or removing an obstruction 
fj'om it, the Government is committed to build the wharves along that 
harl)or. Tlie moment you remove the obstructions from a harbor 
capital flows in to build up wharves and terminal facilities otherwise 
prcn^ented by the existence of natural obstructions. 

The devoloi:)ment of the West has been prevented in ])art by the 
presence of Indians. The Government has removed that obstruction; 
it has pushed the Indians back. Xow the people of the United States 
are saying that the Government should push back the still remaining 
obstruction, and that is the drought due to the unregulated flow of 
the waters. It should sinqily regulate these streams, so that at low 
water they shall carry a moderate supply, and the people will do the 
rest. 

It is obvious that private capital or State capital can not do this 
work of regulating the flow of the streams. It can not be made a 
matter of private profit, unless the corporation or the individual has 
such an exclusive control of the land that he can realize all the 
unearned increments of value; that is to say, you build a reservoir 
on the Humboldt River, for example; you can not control the lands 
along that river to an extent that you can bring back, in the shape of 
profits, the increased value that goes to ev' eryone. It goes to the land 
owners; it goes to the general public, and you, as a citizen, can not 
put it back into your pocket as a proper earning. 

That has been tried again and again, and foreign and eastern capi- 
tal has been invested in storage enteri^rises under a misapprehension 
of the circumstances. Practicallj' every one of those large storage 
enterprises is to-day bankrupt, except one or two, where there was 
such a monopoly that the investors controlled every acre of laud 
which was l)enefited, directly or indirectly, l)y the presence of the 
reservoir. 

Now, the moment you do construct a reservoir all land values rise, 
and the result is that while the man who puts his capital into the 
str;u;ture may have lost it, somebody has made far more than that 
reservoir cost. 

We can not expect that individual enteri^rise will go on and build 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 23 

more of those reservoirs. It can not make the profits and interest 
necessary to repay the investments. Consequently development along 
the line of water conservation has stopped, because the conservation 
as such can not be made profitable to the individual or the investor. 

That brings up two divergent lines of action which this committee 
must necessarih' consider. The one is the regulation of rivers whose 
waters are used through so many localities along such a great course 
that you can not place the specific benefits anywhere. For example, I 
will call your attention later to the proposed diversion of the St. Mary 
River into the head waters of the Milk River, in Montana. That will 
put into a stream which is now practically drj^ a volume of water of a 
thousand or more cnbic feet a second, and it will benefit settlers along 
a course of 500 miles. ' Noav, we can not assess the benefits along those 
500 miles, because they are direct and indirect. There are already 
irrigating ditches there which have been iusuflflcientlj" supplied, and 
which would, under the proposed plan, receive an ample suj)ply. 
Other ditches too would be constructed. In such a case the Govern- 
ment must necessarily build the work as a matter of general benefit, 
but without any hope of specific returns from the lands to be benefited. 

On the other extreme, we have such projects as that of Mr. New- 
lands, for improving the Hum])oldt River or the Truckee River, where 
we can ascertain with a reasonable degree of accuracy the benefit to 
every acre. Tliere, if in tlie wisdom of Congress it is decided to obtain 
reimbursement, it is possible to allot to each particular tract, pro rata, 
what it ought to pay for the improvement. 

Ultimately both of these methods will be adopted in legislation. In 
the river and harbor bill we must have regulation of many of the 
streams which flow into navigable waters, which regulation will inure 
more to the benefit of the settlers than to navigation. On the other 
hand, we will undoubtedlj- have, in the sundry civil bill or some similar 
bill, provisions for constructing reservoirs or regulating works in which 
the benefits can be levied directly upon the lands ; and I have no doubt 
that the people in those countries would be more than glad to have 
the Government regulate their rivers and assess, in any way it might, 
the benefits to be derived. 

The proposition of Mr. Newlands, while it is open to a great many 
objections, is apparently more feasible at the present time than any 
other. It proposes to devote to the construction of certain regulating 
works the proceeds which are now covered into the Treasury; and it 
is in its larger conception an appropriation of money. From a studj' 
of the newspaper clippings tliat have reached me from year to year, I 
see that the objections that are raised are not those of intelligence, 
but those of ignorance. We have thousands of little squibs in the 
papers to the effect that " The farmers of the East will not submit to 
be taxed to benefit the West," and so on. Now, you can not reason 
with that class of people. But you can stop them by simply saying, 
"We do not appropriate directly any money from the Treasury; 
we simply divert the money which comes from the arid lands and put 
it back into the arid lands, where it projierly belongs; and ulti- 
matelj^ all of this money is refunded to the Government." 

If we had only the intelligent, thinking, reading class of people to 
deal with, we could possibly in time educate all to a better concep- 
tion of these facts. But we are compelled to meet the dead opposi- 
tion of people who will simply take a catchword, a phrase, and fight 
a good measure merely in order to be in opposition. Mr. Newlands's- 
general bill has been so worded as to avoid striking on all the snags 



24 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

whicli are impeding the progress of the developineut and rechimatiou 
of the arid lands. 

If it is possible to create a fund from the balance left over in the 
Treasury from different funds wliich may be charged up to the sales 
of public lands; if that amount should be only half a million dollars, 
which could be well invested in a few regulation works, and the 
money turned over, it would not be many years before we would see 
a substantial improvement all along the line. In this work it is not 
proposed or desired to reclaim all of tlie arid lands at once, but to 
commit the Government to some policy which will enable the ultimate 
reclamation of all these arid lands. 

At present, with the matter not embodied in legislation, the devel- 
opments are proceeding along lines which are obstructionary. We are 
allowing men to go in nnd take up commanding positions, to file upon 
lands which are of relatively small benefit to them as individuals, but 
which will block the development of homes and farms for hundreds 
of additional individuals. For example, I have a clipping from a Den- 
ver paper regarding a sale of 100 acres, including water supply con- 
trolling 10,000 acri^s of Government land. Now, under a wise admin- 
istration of the land laws, it might ])e possible for 500 families to live 
where one man has ingeniousl}' taken up his holdings so as to control 
all the water. Ilis 100 acres are scattered along in forties in such a 
way as to block access to all the 1(),000 acres of public lands around. 
And if you study the map of the iniblic lands you will see how indi- 
viduals everywhere are grasping sources of water supply wliich they 
will not be able to use themselves; they have not the funds, they have 
not the ability to develop this water and conserve it; and yet they are , 
in a position to prevent many settlers from making homes. 

Now, that feature of the problem should be recognized at an early 
date; and whether we spend a few hundred thousand or a few million 
dollars in the next generation, the action should be in such a line that 
it will not prevent the future utilization of all the seventy-odd mil- 
lion acres which can be reclaimed. 

Mr. Sutherland. Will you permit a question, Mr. Newell? I think 
you said the Survey had been conducting a series of surveys for the 
last twelve j-ears? You have, I presume, practically surveyed a large 
proportion of this arid land. Are you able to give us an estimate of 
the cost of the improvements, building of reservoirs, etc., sufficient to 
save the waters for the land that can be reached? 

Mr. Newell. The estimates which we have been conducting are 
more along the line of available water supply than of the construction 
of works. But as far as our information now goes, it is probable that 
water can be stored for less than $5 an acre-foot. In some of the esti- 
mates which we have here, but 1 acre-foot — that is, 1 foot of water in 
depth — is devoted to an acre of land. Of course, the cost of reclama- 
tion, as far as the storage of water is concerned, would be less than 
So an acre there. If, however, as in the case of alfalfa, where water 
is cheap and plenty' of it is put on, sometimes as much as 3 or 4 feet, 
the cost would be proportionately greater. Then there are a great 
many alternatives as to character of soil, skill of the irrigator, and 
kind of crop. 

Mr. Reeder. You say more than 3 or 4 feet of water to an acre are 
used? 

Mr. Newell. In alfalfa, yes. In southern California and Arizona, 
where they have upward of five or seven cuttings of alfalfa a year, 
every cutting may represent a foot or more of water put on the ground. 



ARID LANDS OB" THE UNITED STATES. 25 

In other regions, where orchards are irrigated and the water supply is 
scarce through the whole season, the farmers pnt on only a depth of 
two or three inches. They are forced to practice economy. 

Mr. Wilson. We do not put a foot upon our orchards, where we 
have an abundance of water. I had a measuring machine on my 
orchard and found that to be the fact. 

Mr. Newlands. The quantity used for alfalfa diminishes with the 
length of time for which the land is irrigated, does it not? 

Mr. Newell. Yes. Of course all of these matters depend upon 
the skill of the man and the length of time the ground has been 
watered. Take even the coarse open soils of Utah and Idaho. The 
first year the settlers put on a depth of water of perhaps 10 feet, or 
even 20 feet. It all goes down through the soil, which gradually 
becomes more compact, so that less and less water is required: until 
now, in some parts of California at least, no water whatever is su]3- 
plied to the surface of the soil. 

Mr. Wilson. Then the cultivation of the orchai'ds has a good deal 
to do with it — making them conserve the water that is thereV 

Mr. Reeder. Yes; I run an orchard on that principle, entirely with- 
out water, where formerlj' the trees would not have grown at all 
without it. 

Mr. Newell. This survey has been conducted mainly up to the 
present time along the lines of finding out where tlie water was, how 
much there was, and how much could be stored, and we are now try- 
ing to get at the cost of storing it and the benefits to be derived from 
the reclamation of the land. If you desire, I can now take up a few 
specific localities. 

Mr. Barham. Just a moment, before you go to that l)rauch of the 
matter. In your opinion, what will be the cost to the Government of 
a complete survey, having in view the irrigation of the arid lands of 
the United StatesV 

Mr. Newell. The estimates I have prepared have been on the basis 
of an expenditure of $250,000 a year for about five j'ears. The area 
to be covered, you must recollect, is larger than nearly all of that of 
the civilized world. Take the area of Europe and it is smaller than 
the region which we are proposing to investigate. 

Mr. Barham. In round numbers, the cost of surveys alone would 
be about how muchV 

Mr. Newell. It is as indefinite as an estimate as to what would be 
the cost of this city when finislied. One thing leads to another. But 
the essential facts can be ascertained within a few years with an 
exj)enditure of about that amount. Of course the expenditure of that 
amount in learning how the rivers behave when the floods occur, how 
much they are, what the cost of holding them is, and what would be 
the benefit to the lands, will be distributed over this vast area, capable 
of supporting, when developed, a population of, say, 50,000,000. I do 
not think it is anj' exaggeration to say that as many or more people 
can find homes west of the Missouri River than east of it. 

Mr. Sutherland. From the preliminary survey which you have 
made, how many great reservoir sites would you say there are that 
could be constructed? 

Mr. Newell. We liave found something less than 100 which would 
be called worthy of consideration. As a rule a man will report that 
in his county there are a great many good reservoir sites. We go 
there and examine them. We find, usually, that the open valleys are 
so greatly inclined that a dam or reservoir 100 feet or so in height will 



2(3 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

not back np ^A•ater to any considerable extent. It is an optical delu- 
sion l>y which a broad Aalley is apparently level, but it is really highly 
inclined; so that probably not one out of twenty reservoir sites that 
are popularly supposed to be good would actually be feasible under 
the present cost of construction and land values. 

AVhen we have a population of oO,()00,00(» people, and when land 
values run away up into hundreds of dollars per acre, it will be pos- 
sible then to construct reservoirs which are now utterly absurd. 

Mr. Newlands. In speaking of the number of reservoirs, do not 
the canals which are constructed really form reservoirs in themselves 
by saturating the soil and by making underground reservoirs which 
feed other lands bj' seepageV 

Mr. Newell. That is true, of course. But the great primary step 
is to hold the waters up in the mountains ; and then, as the lands are sat- 
urated in the valleys, the extension of irrigation takes place naturally. 

Air. Newlands. You ^\i\\ find, in a given stream, that the water 
will be entirely taken out, and then 10 or 15 miles below you will find 
the water restored to the stream, by seepage, will you not? 

Mr. Newell. Ves. So that along the Arkasas River, probal)ly one 
of the best exam[)les, the water coming down from the mountains is 
taken out on the plains; then a few miles lielow the river is seen to 
increase in volume and another canal comes out. Below that there 
will l)e, perhaps, a tiglit dam, taking out all visil)le water. Ten miles 
below there will be quite a stream, and another tight dam taking out 
all the visible water, and so on — the water tending to creej) gradually 
down toward Kansas. The same is true on the South Platte River, 
which now is dry for, perluips, a hundred miles or so above the 
Nebraska line; but the tendency is for the water to gradually creep 
down toward Nebraska. With the ultimate development of all the 
storage reservoirs in Colorada, and with the use of that water to its 
full extent on the plains, there may be a lai'ger flow at the Kansas and 
Nebraska lines than there is at the present time. 

Mr. Barha:\i. Have you made any estinmte as to the i)rol)able cost 
of the whole scheme? 

Mr. Newell. I havo not, for the reason that while the Government 
might, we will say, put 85 an acre into regulating the water, private 
capital would then enter in to the extent of three or four times as 
much in the minor works whicli would be rendered possible by it — in 
the same way that 8100,(I0() in dredging a bar at the mouth of a river 
would result in the expenditure of millions of dollars in wharves and 
shipping facilities. 

If you care to take the specific localities, I would refer you to east- 
ern Oregon, where we have the Malheur and Owyhee rivers, torren- 
tial streams flowing from the mountains through a desert country, and 
entering the Snake River near the mouth of the Boise and the Payette. 
Now, on the other side, in Idaho, is some of the l)est fruit country 
in the world, and developments are very rapid there. But on the 
other side, along the Alalheur and Owyhee, owing to the torrential 
character of the streams, agriculture has developed very little. Now, 
it will be possible, by storage reservoirs in the head waters, to con- 
serve the flow of those streams and make possible a development of 
the fruit lands in these lower valleys comparable to that of those in 
the vicinity of Boise and other regions around there. So that a few 
hundred thousand dollars put into reservoirs on the head waters of 
these streams would undoubtedly result ultimately in the addition of 
millions of dollars of taxable property to that end of Oregon. The 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 27 

same is true, to a less degree, of the Umatilla and other rivers in the 
eastern portion of the State. 

The same thing is true of a portion of the State of Idalio. The 
Snake River, coming out from the vicinity of the Yellowstone National 
Park, flows out on a great lava plain, where it could easily be diverted, 
and then begins to sink into a deep canyon from Avhich the water can 
not be brought because it is too far beneath the irrigable lauds. It 
is possible to take out several large canals and cover a considerable 
portion of this desert. Tlie streams which come in from the south 
can be stored and the water can be taken out on the lands along the 
stream; and it is possible to develop a considerable area of good land 
hj the regulation of the waters which now run to waste. 

For another example let us consider the Truckee Basin in Nevada 
and in California. Lake Tahoe receives the drainage from a forested 
area in the Sierra Nevadas. It is formed bj^ the blocking-up of an 
ancient valley by a great lava flow, and is a natural reservoir. But 
its waters are not controlled. It lies in such a position that about 
one-half of the lake is in Nevada, but the outlet is in California. The 
Nevada people are helpless in attempting to control that lake. Cali- 
forniaus have the idea that thej" can use that lake to supply San 
Francisco at some time in the future, and they resent any attempt 
made by the Nevada people to get the waters and carry them over to 
the east. 

Mr. Newlands. In order to utilize that lake for California, it would 
be necessary to tunnel through an immense intervening ridge, would 
it not? 

Mr. WiLSOX. It illustrates the wild ideas Californians have gener- 
ally. [Laughter.] 

Mr. MoNDELL. How long a tunnel would be required? 

Mr. Barham. Oh, a tunnel (5 or 7 miles long — a mere bagatelle in 
California, where we have big trees and big men. 

Mr. Newell. That stream flows out through a portion of California 
and is discharged easterly, flowing down into Pyramid Lake and into 
Winnemucca Lake. 

Mr. Newlands. And those two lakes are in the sink or lower part 
of the desert, are they not? 

Mr. Newell. Yes. As Mr. Newlands has said before, the existence 
of those lakes in there shows the anunmt of water which is useless, 
which might have been employed in agriculture in these valleys above. 
There are also a num]>er of relati^'ely snuxll lakes and reservoir sites 
in California on Truckee River which can be utilized to supply water 
for the irrigation of those lands. 

Mr. Newlands. Now, ]Mr. Newell, will you In'ing out the fact that 
this area of which you are speaking in California is on the Nevada 
slope of the mountains, and is not toward California, and that it feeds 
the Nevada streams and not the California streams? 

Mr. Newell. The summit divide between the watershed flowing to 
the east and the west would properly form the dividing line between 
those two States. But in laying out the boundary it was placed over 
on the east side of the summit or divide, so that it results that every 
reservoir site which can be used to benefit Nevada is over the line in 
California. 

Mr. Newlands. That is true of three rivers. 

Mr. Newell. Although that line is an imaginarj- one, it divides a 
very active State sentiment in regard to the control of water of those 
streams. 



28 



AKID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Mr. Newlands. The peculiarity of the California area is that there 
is no land capable of irrigation on this slope within the California 
line. It is all mountain land. 

Mr. Newell. The reservoir sites are on one side and the irrigable 
lands on tlie other, with the State line between. By a conservation 
of these waters by reservoirs, the cost of which has been estimated, 
it will be possible to reclaim thousands of acres of desert land lying 
out on these valleys — some of the best lands in the United States, 
lands which have never been washed by the rains. They are full of 
fertility; and yet, owing to the difficulties of getting water to them, 
the poor, rocky laud in the vicinity of Reno has been used as against 
the rich, fertile, fine lands of the farther valleys. I do not think in 
any part of the United States have I seen farms on rockier soil, even 
up' in Maine and Vermont, than some of those around Reno, simply 
because they could not afford to talvo the water back to the better 
soils of the lands in the neighboring deserts. 

Mr. Newlands. And yet those 30,000 acres of alfalfa sustain a town 
of 4,500 people. It is almost tlie main source of the prosperity of the 
town. 

Mr. Newell. There is no telling wliat the population might do if 
they used all the good soil. Now, regulation of this stream, con- 
servation of its flow, would result in the bringing under irrigation of 
these many thousand acres of land, and bringing in an enormous 
amount of private capital in the shape of settlers and their etfects and 
their labor in liuilding up a State. 

To sum up the whole matter, the following statement maybe made: 

In the State of Nevada there is the numl)oldt, of which Mr. New- 
lands lias spoken, and the estimates are in a fair degree of completion 
concerning the wliole Truckee l>asiu. They are as follows, as stated 
in a report by ]Mr. L. II. Taylor: 



Name of reservoir. 


Gross ca- 
pacity. 


Net 

amount 

which may 

be annu- 
ally drawn 
off. 


Cost of 

dam, 

riehts of 

way, etc. 


Cost 
per acre- 
foot. 


Lake Tahoe . , . - . 


Acre-feet. 
745, 400 

2(j,;too 

11,750 

10,4.50 

l,t)00 

3, 480 

20,540 

17,000 

0,500 

5.785 

t). 500 


Acre-feet. 

35(), 0(Xl 

2(3, 900 

11,700 

10,400 

1.(300 

3.400 

20. .500 

1(5,000 

(3, .500 

5.500 

(3,500 


$21, 402 
82,t!72 
31,802 
50, 4(i3 
7, 920 
20, 125 
62,215 
40. 3(55 
28. 7.50 
17. 037 
20. 708 


$0.09 


Donner Luke 


3.07 


Independence Lake 


2.73 


Welujer Ijake . .. . 


4.85 


.Squaw Creek 


4.95 


Twin Valley ... 


5.92 


Little Truckee No.l 

Henne.ss Pass Valley 


3.04 
3.53 


Little Truckee No 2 


4.43 


Dog Valley .. 


3.10 


Little Valley 


4.11 






Total 


855.005 


359,(100 


389. 459 


1.09 







It is feasible to construct storage reservoirs in Sardine Valley, Cali- 
fornia, ami at two points on the main Truckee River between Reno 
and Wadsworth, but owing to the sites of such reservoirs being trav- 
ersed liy railroads the cost for rights of way, including removal of 
railroad tracks, would be excessive. 

If Lake Tahoe be created into a storage reservoir with the gross 
capacity of 745,400 acre-feet above ultimate low-water plane, so as to 
store the waters of wet years for use during the dry years, it will be 
feasible to draw therefrom 250,(^00 acre-feet annualiy. 



AEID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 29 

The watersheds tributary to the other reservoirs named yield suffi- 
cient water, even in seasons of minimum precii3itation, to fill each 
of them, with the possible exception of the Henness Pass Valley 
reservoir. 

The waters stored in the reservoirs named, if employed to supple- 
ment the ordinary flow of the Truckee River, and used with moderate 
economy, are sufficient, even in the driest years, to irrigate 187,616 
acres of laud in excess of what is now watered, or a total of 330,000 
acres, leaving a surplus of 79,000 acre-feet for safety, besides main- 
taining the flow of the Truckee River at the minimum of 300 cubic 
feet per second above the town of Reno, to afford a supply for power 
and other purposes. 

It is feasible to construct an irrigating canal with a capacity of 550 
cubic feet per second from the Truckee River at a point near Floris- 
ton, in California, to supply 75,000 acres of good arable lands above 
and to the north and northeastward from Reno, at a cost, for diver- 
sion canal and headworks and the main branches and distributaries, 
of 8750,000. 

It is feasible to construct a canal on the south side of the Truckee 
River, from a point above Clarks Station, having a capacity of 750 
cubic feet per second, to a point a short distance above Wadsworth, 
where a branch with 225 second-feet capacity can be taken across the 
river hj pressure pipes and led northward toward Pyramid Lake, 
wliile the main branch, with a cajjacity of 525 second-feet, can be con- 
tinued on to the southeast and eastward from Wadsworth, the two 
branches supplying water to 99,000 acres of land, of which about 
30,000 acres are in the Truckee River Basin (over 20,000 being in the 
Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation and 69,000 acres in the ])asin of the 
Carson River, approximately 50,000 of which are in Carson Sink Val- 
ley), and that the cost of this canal system, including the principal 
distributing branches, will be about $4 for each acre commanded, or 
$396,000. 

The entire upj)er portion of the Truckee River Basin, embracing all 
of the drainage area above the town of Verdi and the north and east 
timbered slopes of the Tahoe range of mountains, should be set aside 
as a forest and water reserve or a national park, and the waters be 
forever dedicated for use for industrial and irrigation purposes within 
the basin and upon such lands immediatel}^ adjacent as tliey may 
supply. 

The Lake Tahoe dam should be built as the flrst step in the storage 
of water upon the Truckee, and all private rights in tlie other reser- 
voir sites mentioned sliould be acquired by the Federal Government, 
so that when the time for their utilization arrives there will be no 
obstacle to their construction. 

The portion of the public domain which can be irrigated from the 
stored waters of the Truckee River should be withdrawn from entry, 
and after being provided with a system of canals for the delivery of 
water should be offered for sale at a price commensurate with their 
value as irrigable lands with water rights. The irrigated and irri- 
gable lands should be embraced in a Federal irrigation district, and 
the water rights for lands held in private ownership, outside of such 
as are now irrigated, should be sold at the same price as is charged 
for the public lauds with water. All moneys derived from the sale of 
lands and water rights, and from their sources to be devoted, first, to 
the reimbursement of tlie cost of reservoirs and canals, and, second, 
to the maintenance and improvement of the irrigation system and to 



30 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

defraying the expense of administration. All power i)rivileg-es not 
already appropriated should be appraised and disposed of at a reason- 
able valuation, and the benefits to present users of the waters of the 
Truckee River for power purposes arising from the increased and 
more steady discharge due to storage should be assessed and paid for 
by such usei's. 

Surveys have also been made on tlie Humboldt and Truckee rivers. 
On Rock Creek, a tributary of IIum])oldt River, a dam can be built 
storing 80,000 acre-feet, and costing 8C>2, oOO, as described in the Twen- 
tieth Annual Rejiort of the United States Geological Survey, Part IV, 
page 445. On tlie Lower Huuilioldt River a series of reservoirs can 
be built at an estimated cost of 8148,300, storing 55,000 acre feet, and, 
with the flow of the river, irrigating (J0,000 acres. 

In Arizona detailed surveys have been made on Gila River, the 
results having been published in Paper No. 33 of the series of Water- 
Supply and Irrigation Papers of the United States Geological Survey. 
The most feasible reservoir is that on the San Carlos Apache Indian 
Reservation. The capacit}^ of this reservoir will be 241,306 acre-feet 
and the cost .^1, 038,02(3. 

In California detailed surveys have been recently made of a number 
of reservoirs, principally in the high sierras. One of these is in the 
Hetch ?Ietchy Valley; it is described in the Twenty-first Annual 
Report of the United States Geological Sui-vey, pages 450 to 4(35. The 
total cost of the dam and accessories will be 8607,057, storing 107,0(JO 
aere-feet, at a cost of 85.67 per acre-foot. 

In addition, a number of surveys have been made in coopei'ation 
with the C'alifornia Water and Forest Association, the results of which 
are shown in Senate Document No. 50 of the Fifty-sixth Congress, 
second session. The most important is the Clarks Valley reservoir, 
storing 223,224 acre-feet, at a cost, for the dams, of $1,311,842. In 
order to fill the I'esei'voir, it will l)e necessary to construct a diversion 
conduit from King River with a tunnel, the total cost of works and 
the dams l)eing 82,013,040, or at a i-ate of 80.02 per acre-foot stored. 

In Montana surveys have been made to ascertain the feasibility of 
diverting St. ]\[ary River into the head waters of Milk River. This 
project has been found not to ofl'er unusual engineering difficulties. 
The cost of the lirst miles, the most difficult part of the route, has 
been estimated to be 8325,000. 

In Wyoming the reservoir site on (4rey Bull River, storing 14,204 
acre-feet, will cost, for construction of dam, 840,062. 

These facts are given in concise form in the following summary: 

Cost of p)'oJi cts for irliick snrrei/s liaiv been made. 



State. 


Reservoir. 


Capacity. 


Total cost. 


Cost per 
acre-foot. 






Acre-feei. 
3+1,390 
107,001) 

31lj,00l) 

m, 1150 
yo.ouo 


$1,038,92(5 

607. 057 

3,013.949 

1,377,,W) 

387, 400 
4.53, 484 
(335,000) 

03.300 
148,3110 
380. 495 

49. 9ti3 




Si. 30 
5.07 
9.03 
5. 91 


California 


Hetoli Hetchy 

Clarks Valley 




Stouy Creek, 

Clear Lake 


7.35 
5.00 


Moutaua 


St. Mary 




Nevada , 


Rock Creek 

Lower Humboldt 


.so, 000 

55,000 

359, OOO 

U, 304 




.78 
3.70 


Wyoming'- 


Truckee 

Grey Bull.. 


1.08 
3.53 


Total 


1,415.474 


0,337.337 




4.47 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 31 

STATEMENT OF GEORGE H. MAXWELL, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., 
CHAIRMAN OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL 
IRRIGATION ASSOCIATION. 

Mr. Maxwell. Mv. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee: I 
hardly know to what partienlar point to address myself. 

Mr. Newlands. Our inquiry, Mr. Maxwell, has been directed so far 
to two bills — the Humboldt River bill, in Nevada, which you have seen, 
and a general bill. The latter provides for the setting apart of all 
moneys received from the sales of public lands in the arid and semi- 
arid States to a special fund in the Treasury, to be called the "arid- 
lands reclamation fund." It is then provided that the Secretary of the 
Interior, with the aid of the Geological Survey, shall go on and sur- 
vey and complete projects to withdraw the lands subject to a given 
scheme from general entry, and provision is made for the entry under 
this law in areas not exceeding 80 acres for each entryman, and for 
the imposition of the cost of the water right proportionately upon . 
every acre of the land benefited. It is provided that the moneys shall 
be paid in ten annual installments, wliicli are to go back into this 
reclamation fund, thus creating a revolving reclamation fund. Tliose 
are the two bills which have been under consideration. The general 
subject has also been uiider discussion. 

Mr. Maxwell. Taking up the last bill first, ^Ir. Chairman, it seems 
to me that the bill for the creation of this arid-land reclamation fund 
has a great merit, from this point of view: 

I have followed for a number of years past the objections which 
have been raised from time to time in the editorial columns of some 
of the papers in the East and by some of the Eastern Senators in dis- 
cussions on the floor of the Senate; and I observe that they have 
objected to the East being taxed for the benefit of the West, taking 
the view that the expenditure of the moneys of the National Govern- 
ment for the development of the West by irrigation was a measure 
entirely for the benefit of the West. 

The bill to which Mr. Newlands refers, and a copy of which I liave 
seen, seems to me to obviate the objection that the East would be 
taxed for the benefit of tlie West. In other words, as I understand 
the measure, it is not proposed to put anj' burden at all ui^on the 
Eastern taxpaj^er. The proposition is merely tliat the proceeds of the 
sales of lands in the arid region sliall he used to create a fund for the 
gradual reclamation of the arid region; that wherever moneys are 
invested in construction the lands shall be sold for a sutficient price 
to cover the cost of construction, and that the price, when paid, shall 
be returned into the fund, so that the fund would be gradually increas- 
ing from year to year. In the working out of the plan all mc^neys 
temporarily withdrawn would be gradually returned to the Treasury. 

I apprehend that there is no ground for a contrary argument to the 
proposition that there are nmny locations in the West where the Gov- 
ernment can undoubtedly build an irrigation system, or at least the 
large main-line canals and reservoirs, and dispose of tlie laud for a 
sufficient sum to entirely cover the cost of construction. On the other 
hand, there are undoubtedlj' many millions of acres of Government 
land wliich it is not feasible to undertake to reclaim under that plan, 
for the reason that it is almost impossible for the Government to so 
control the water supplies which would be created by storage as to 
limit their use to any specific area of Government laud. I mention 



32 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

that fact in order that my position may be well understood — that while 
this proposed measure of Mr. Newlands is, in my judgment, one that 
has great merit, and \yould in manj^ localities solve difficulties which 
are otherwise unsolvable, and is a measure to which, it seems to me, 
no reasonable objection can be made from any quarter of the United 
States, at the same time it can not l)e considered as a complete solu- 
tion of the whole prol)lem. I miglit illustrate, in order that my idea 
may be made plain, as I pass along the conditions in Wyoming and 
Kebraska, or Colorado and Arkansas. There are, no doubt, very large 
areas of land in those States which could be irrigated from reservoirs 
in the Rocky Mountains, which the Federal Government will have to 
construct if they ever are constructed, whicli could not. be reclaimed 
under the plan proposed in Mr. Newlands's bill, for the reason that 
the reservoir — tlie head of supply — is so remote from the place where 
the waters would be used that it would be an impossibility to connect 
the two and sell the land which that particular water supply would 
irrigate for sufficient monej' to pay for building the reservoir. In 
' other words, some other plan must be devised for covering that branch 
of the subject. 

But coming back to Mr. Xewlands's bill. There is no doubt that 
as to large areas of country, more |)articularly in the Southwest — I 
have mentioned several locations in Nevada, in Arizona, and in 
southern California — it is a perfectly feasil)le and sound proposition. 
I believe to-day that some measure of that kind is the only solution 
of the reclamation of the Territory of Arizona. Now, there is a Ter- 
ritory which is as large as the whole Philippine Archipelago, and it 
will, beyond question, support as large a population as the Philippine 
Islands', provided that all the water which to-day runs to waste can 
be saved and utilized. 

There is a measure pending in the Senate providing for the con- 
struction of a reservoir on the Gila River. Now, the investigations 
of that stream have shown, and the engineer's report, that only 3 per 
cent of the total flow of that river is to-day utilized or available for 
use. You can imagine what the conditions would be if the area irri- 
gated and tlie population sustained by irrigation from the Gila River 
were increased 07 per cent. 

There is a location which this bill of Mr. Newlands would exactly 
fit, because the Government controls the water sup]ily and the reser- 
voir sites. It can specifically designate the land that that water shall 
l>e used upon. It can put the land upon the market in small tracts 
and sell it, with the water right, for more money than all the irriga- 
tion works will cost. I find that in the discussion of these subjects 
the difficulties that arise come, nine times out of ten, from the fact 
that some one has taken a mere broad generalization of the subject 
without getting down to specific propositions — I wish not to diverge, 
but to call attention in passing, to an objection that was made in the 
Senate yesterday. Senator Piatt of Connecticut and Senator Quarles 
of Wisconsin both raised the objection to this specific proposition on 
the ground that a general or comprehensive plan should be brought 
in for consideration. 

No man alive to-day will see this prt»blem solved if we are obliged 
to wait before we do anything until we can create a comprehensive 
scheme of national ii'rigation which will l)e sufficiently flexible to fit 
every locality and suit every objection. We must begin with locali- 
ties. I apprehend that one reason why I have been led to study these 
<lifferent phases of the problem perhaps more than others lies in the 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 33 

very fact, that California, my native State, possesses such diversified 
conditions that what fits one part of tlie State will not fit another. 

Mr. Sutherland. Pardon lue just one moment. I live in Nebraska. 
What suggestions liave you for western Nebraska and eastern Wyo- 
ming? 

Mr. Maxwell. Confining it to western Nebraska, first, artesian 
wells; second, tlie storage of the flood waters of the streams until they 
are absolutely controlled and regulated for use. In other words, when 
the Government builds storage reservoirs in Montana and Wyoming, 
It can not undertake to distribute that water to specific localities. 
They must be turned into streams and left to be taken care of by the 
irrigators during their entire course. 

Mr. liARHAM. Now, Mr. Maxwell, this point of objection has sug- 
gested itself to my mind to tlie propo.sition made by Mr. Newlands of 
selling the land at so much an acre : 

Mr. Newlands. Pardon me, selling the land simply at the propor- 
tionate cost of the project. 

Mr. Barham. Well, say ^10 an acre. 

Mr. Newlands. It would run from -^5 to 810 an acre, to be paid in 
ten annual installments. 

Mr. Barham. Now that, of course, is only applicable to the sale of 
lands belonging to the United States, but you must I'ecollect that the 
X)oint is going to be made that under the scheme proposed l)y Mr. New- 
lands the State lands, the school lands, the university lands, the lands 
now held in private ownership, and the railroad lands (Mhich lie in 
every alternate section on either side of the line of the railroad, I 
believe 20 miles on each side, constituting an immense volume of land) 
are going to be benefited without any comiiensation to the Treasury 
for carrying out this scheme. 

Mj^ suggestion is,- instead of the plan proposed here, wliy not simply 
take the proposition as it presents itself boldly, and take money out 
of the Treasury of the United States to cany on this plan, and then 
assess tlie owners of these lands (railroads and everybody else) 75 
cents or II an acre until all the fund is returned to the Treasury of 
the United States? 

Mr. Newlands. This l)ill provides that, as to lands now in private 
ownership,. water rights can l)e acquired by paying the same amount 
that the entrvman of public lands pays, and in the same annual in- 
stallments — provided there is enough water to go around, the i^ublic 
lands being served first. It also provides that no Avater right sliall be 
granted to any man for more than 80 acres — thus compelling the 
railroads and other large holders to divide up their lands for actual 
settlers. 

Mr. Maxwell. I understood that that point had l)een covered by 
the bill. That is one of the most important points. 

Mr. Barham. Yes; that i^oint is going to be raised all along the 
line. 

Mr. Maxwell. I am glad j'ou suggested it here, Ijecause it is one 
that is coming up and one that it is difficult to provide for; there is 
no question about tliat. At the same time, it has always seemed to 
me that the argument that by any possibility some private lands might 
be benefited by the Government construction of irrigation works could 
not be allowed to hold back a great national improvement, any more 
than the argument that, for instance, building the San Pedro Ilarbor 
or the Eureka Harbor might benefit private properties in the States 

11100—01 3 



34 AEID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

where they are located, should l)e a reason for saying "You shall not 
build the hai-bor!'' 

Mr. 3I0NDELL. Is it not a fact that oftentimes a harbor improve- 
ment which is a charge against the Treasury, and in return for which 
the Government receives no direct benefit or revenue, inures to the 
benefit of individuals owning wharfage property to the extent of mil- 
lions of dollars? 

Mr. Wilson. The cleaning out of the Buttermilk Channel is a nota- 
ble instance of that principle. 

Mr. MoNDELL. Yes; a very notable instance, where, undoubtedly^ 
millions upon millions will be added to the value of private property 
without any thought of return. 

Mr. Maxwell. But it seems to me tliat the suggestion made l)y 
Judge ]:>arham, which, as I understand, is incorporated in tliis bill, 
covers that proposition under this plan of development. 

Mr. Newlands. 1 want to state further. Judge Barham, that, as a 
general 7-ule, I think the railroad has parted with all its lands within 
reach of the stream that are capable of irrigation. 

Mr. Bakham. At the same time, we can not put money into the 
Treasury from the sale of those lands, because thej' are already sold; 
they belong to the railroad. 

Mr. Maxwell. But you will observe, gentlemen, that the bill pro- 
vides for returning to the Treasury the money from the sale of the 
right to the use of the water, and not necessaril}' from the sale of the 
land. If it is to be taken up by homestead entry the land itself would 
go free to the entryman, but the value is in the water; and that fea- 
ture of it, it seems to me, is covered in that point. 

Mr. Newlands. By the way, Mr. Maxwell, Judge Barham made 
this suggestion to me before you came in. He insists upon it that it 
would be better to face the question Itoldly, to ask from the General 
Government adequate appropriations for this work from year to year 
as a legitimate Government woi'k. Now, my answer to him was that 
of course I favored that proposition, but tliat the purpose of this bill 
was to remove the ol>,jections of ignorance. 

Mr. Maxwell. There is one suggestion upon that point tliat I 
would like to make, and that is this: The objection is frequ(^ntly 
made on the part of the East that measures of this kind will result in 
an abnormal and sudden develo[)ment of the West, and that they will 
put things out of balance and perliaps l)e to the detriment of the East- 
ei'u agricultural interests. 

I believe tliat the construction of a few of these irrigation systems 
will be such a complete demonstration of the unsoundness of that 
view, that if we could get started upon a perfectly just basis of taking 
only the iiroeeeds of the sales of arid lands and building tliese sys- 
tems, it will be seeii that the results are so different from what some 
of the opponents of the idea have contended that they will withdraw 
their opposition. I will try to make that clear by an illusti'ation, 
taking the case of the San Carlos reservoir in Arizona. If the House 
assents to tlie measure passed by the Senate, that reservoir will be 
built in .Vrizona. The residt will be that an ai-ea of 1U0,(HJ() acres of 
land Avill be suV)divided into small farms, probal)ly id-acre farms, with 
an ample supply of water. The people who will go on those farms 
will produce fruits (deciduous and possibly citrus), I'aisins, poultry, 
eggs, and butter. They will not raise stock to any considerable 
extent, l)ecause the land is too valuable to be devoted to that purpose. 
Tlie result of tlie development will be that the pi-oducts of those farms 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 35 

will be so different from the products of Eastern agriculture that there 
will be no possibility of any competition with Eastern agriculture. 
On the other hand, Eastern agriculture will be benefited, because 
every home that is built in the Gila Valley, in Arizona, is a market for 
the manufacturer of the East. 

I was in Boston within the last week and made an address at a ban- 
quet of the Boston Merchants' Club. I called their attention to that 
unfortunate misunderstanding of this project on the i)art of some 
people of the East. From Albany to Boston and from Boston back 
to New York the railroad is simply lined with the great factories which 
produce the products that are consumed in the West. The mallet 
that drives the farmer's post in the ground, the wire on the fence, the 
plow that tills his ground, the wagon that hauls his implements, the 
nails in his house, the glass in the windows, the screws in the doors, 
the clothes on his back — everything the man who goes into Arizona on 
any of that reclaimed land uses is to be furnished to him by the East- 
ern manufacturer. 

The Chairman. And you might have gone on and named the spade 
that digs his grave, and the hearse that takes his body to it, and the 
coffin that incloses him. [Laughter.] 

Mr. Maxwell. Yes; and I might have gone further than that, and 
said that the swaddling clothes that wrap the children when the}^ are 
born there will come from the East. 

What is the result of all that? What is the best market for the 
Eastern farmer to-day? It is in the factories of the East. Take the 
factories out of New England, New York, and Pennsylvania to-day 
and the Eastern agriculturist of those States might just as well i)ack 
his blankets and take to the road. Every new home that is built in 
the West, whether it is from the British Columbian line to the Mexi- 
can line or from the ninety-eighth meridian to the Pacific Ocean — I 
do not care where it is — is a positive, absolute advantage to the East- 
ern agriculturist. There is no getting away from the argument. 

Mr. Barham. My point is that if we make the people understand 
that fact they will be only too anxious to join us in going into this 
broad, comprehensive scheme. 

Mr. Maxwell. That is my idea. Judge; and I think that if we can 
do it some plan can be reported out of this committee so that it can 
be discussed with the people. I believe Mr. Newlands's bill has this 
merit — that while it is not a complete solution of the problem, it is a 
measure which will be less objected to by the peoj)le of the East than 
any other. I believe that if it is enacted and put into force the benefit 
to the commercial interests of the whole country and to the Eastern 
agriculturist will be demonstrated by actual experience under it in 
such a manner that when we come before Congress with a plan and 
estimate for a great system of work which has been carefully surveyed, 
planned, and estimated ui)Ou by the Geological Survey, and say to the 
people of the East, "Now, there is a great tract of land which can l)e 
reclaimed, but which requires work costing too much money to be 
built under this bill; we want more money to go into that fund, to 
enlarge the revolving fund," it will not be opposed. 

Mr. Barham. To how large an extent does the title to the arid 
lands which are capable of irrigation still remain in the Government? 

Mr. Maxwell. The estimates differ. The estimate of tlie Secre- 
tary of the Interior, in his last annual report, was 74,000,000 acres. 
The estimate of Major Powell, when he was the Director of the Geolog- 
ical Survey, was 100,000,000 acres. I am very glad you called attention 



86 ARID LANDS OF THE T^NITED STATES. 

to tliat point, Ix^eauso I want to si ate something' which, in my opinion, 
is one of the most important features of this whole movement, and 
one tliat is very rarely i-eferred to. That is, that after water is taken 
out ami used for the iri-iii'ation of a speciflc area of land, the country 
gradually l)ecomes saturated with watei', and surface irrig'ation to a 
very large extent 1)ecom('s unnecessary; and the same surface supply 
will go on and on and on enlarging the area under irrigation until the 
whole condition of the country has been completely transfoi-med. 

Mr. Barham. Yes; there is no doul>t about that. 

Mr. Maxwell. There is no man in California who stands higher 
in the estimation of the people, or who has a closer knowledge of the 
San Joaquin Valley, than Di-. Chester II. Rowell, of Fresno. I drove 
through the Fresno colonies with Dr. Rowell, and we were talking on 
/his subject, and he called my attention to farm after farm where 
there was no surface irrigation whatever. 

Mr. Newlands. This was land that had been previously desert 
land, was it not? 

Mr. JMaxwell. Land wliich had previousl_v been absolutely desert 
land. It is a welbknown fact that the country where Fresno stands 
to-day was oi-iginally a desei-t, arid waste, where sheep had to scram- 
ble for a living in a good year, and cattle and sheep starved in a dry 
year. To-day there are thousands of acres of land there where the 
pi'oblem is not one of irrigation, but one of drainage; and there is 
sei'iously agitated in the San Joaquin Valley to-day the question of 
the construction of a great drainage canal to drain otT the irrigating 
water. In the city of Tulare, when the white people fii'st went in 
there, the wa1(M- table was 75 t<» KH) feet below the surface of the 
ground. T()-<lay you can not pump a well dry; you can not pump it 
down a foot. When y<ni get down ll> or b5 feet the whole country 
lias become a great sponge. 

What is the inference from those facts? Suppose we luive to-day 
water enough to irrigate 74,000,000 acres of land. If all the water 
available is utilized, I believe that in less than tifty years you will 
have 150,000,000 acres irrigated. The proposition is not a chimerical 
one at all; it is simply a fact that in course of time the whole countrj^ 
becomes a great sponge. 

Taking up this question of reservoirs, I will give you a most remark- 
able illustration. When I was in Arizona last Decembei' I was shown 
photog]-aphs of a peach orchard and a peach ei-o]) which was raised 
without one di'op of summer irrigation; they had wiiiter-irrigated it 
with 8 feet of water. That means that there was i)ut on the orchard 
an amount of water in the winter season which would have stood eight 
feet above the ground if it had all been there at one time. 

Ml'. Newlands. That was during the period of floods? 

Mr. Maxwell. Yes; they put it in in the period of flood. In 
othei" words, if they had built a fence 8 feet high all around that land, 
the water would have filled it up to the top, and would have sunk 
I'ight down into the ground. TJiat can not be done excejit in verj^ 
porous land, Avhere the subsoil is open, so that tlie water will go down 
and go out. But they had 8 feet of water on that orchard, and not a 
drop of summer iri'igation; and they had a magnificent crop of 
peaches. 

To illustrate again : The largest single reservoir in Arizona will hold 
in the neighborhood of 800,000 acre-feet of Avater. That means that if 
you could use the whole storage capacity it would cover 100,000 acres of 
land with winter irrigation 8 feet in depth. AVhen you have 1,000,000 



AEID LANDS OF THP: UNITED STATES. 37 

acres of Government land under that resemoir, it is perfectly easy to 
see that by building canals you could take the whole flood supply of 
the river out and sink it into the land. You can not fill the land in 
one year; you would never know the water had been put on the tract; 
but keep on doing- this j^ear after year, and in flfty years you will get 
the wliole country full of water. When water goes down into the soil 
it does not stay there. It does not go througii to the other side of the 
earth, nor does it drop down in the center. It keeps coming out. 
The consequence is that when the country fills up with water in that 
way the rivers are replenished, and there is a steady stream flowing 
in the dry season from the seepage from this underground supply 
created by filliiig up this arid land with water. 

Mr. Newlands. I quite agree with you that this plan may be not 
oiierative with reference to some of these great enterprises where the 
land is far away from the storage to be accomplished. But in that 
event the Government could recompense itself by charging a higher 
price for the Government land. This plan might not be practicable 
to parts of California. Take the King River, for instance, where they 
have been suftering greatly in the San Joaquin Valley by reason of 
the scarcity of water during July and August. Suppose the Geolog- 
ical Survey should project a reservoir on King River, and we will 
assume that all the land below, in the San Joacpiin Valley, except a 
very small portion, is in pi'ivate occupancy. There is not enough 
public land to pay for that enterprise. Do you not think that the 
people would come forward with some proposition and say, "We will 
purchase so many water rights, and pay for them at the rate of a dollar 
per annum for ten years, if j-ou will go on with tlie work;" and in 
that way, even though a large portion of the land is in private occu- 
pancy, you would secure the fund that would be necessarj^ for the 
work? 

Mr. Barham. Wait for the returns to come in in regard to all 
these different projects; and as they are returned, let them be taken 
up as they come in year after year? 

3Ir. Wilson. I move that Mr. Maxwell be requested to extend his 
remarks in the Record. 

(The motion was seconded and unanimouslj' carried.) 

Thereupon, at 12.05 o'clock p. m., the committee adjourned until 
Thursday, January ;31, lliOl, at 10 o'clock a. m. 



Washington, D. C, January 31, 1901. 

Tile committee met, pursuant to adjournment, Hon. John A. Barham 
(acting chairman) in the chair. 

Mr. Barham. I understand that it is the order of the committee 
that we should proceed with the hearing and that a quorum should be 
considered as present. If there is anyone who can enlighten us upon 
this subject, we will be glad to hear them. 

STATEMENT OF NELSON H. BARTON, GEOLOGIST, UNITED STATES 
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

Mr. Daetox. I have spent several years in making a study of the 
undergr(nnul water supply of the arid portion of the Central Plains 
region. The investigation has been conducted as a portion of the 
work of the United States Geological Survey. 



38 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Mr. Reeder. You spent eoiisidf-rable time, I believe, last aiitiinin 
in northwest Kansas'? 

Mr. Darton. Yes, sir; and in tlie adjoining portions of Colorado 
and Nebr.iska, studying tliis problem of underground water suppl}^ 
and ascertaining what had been done in the way of sinking wells. 
Tlie grcatC'enti'al Trains are underlain throughout their entire extent 
by a^ vast sheet of Dakota sandstone, wliich a})}»ears to be full of water 
everywhei-e. This sheet of sandstone is upturned under the tianks of 
the Rocky 3b>untains, where the water goes into the sandstone. This 
sheet has ah\'ays been found full of water and to yield great flow to 
wells which have been sunk into it. It extends undei" the Great Plains, 
all the way across, eastvrard from the flanks of the Rocky Mountains, 
the IMghorn Mountains, and the lUack Hills. On the flanks of these 
mountains a great volume of water sinks underground into the sand- 
stone, and wherever wells are sunk sufficiently deep to reach this 
sandstone it yields an abundant water supply. 

Mr. Reeder. You say that the principal wells to this formation are 
noi'th of the district I represent in Kansas? 

Mr. Dartox. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Reeder. Have you examined the conditions in the district 
which I represent? 

Mr. Darton. We have, as far as the south line of Kansas and Col- 
orado. 

Mr. Reeder. Do you find this same sandstone in the same relations 
there? 

Mr. Darton. Yes, sir; the same. 

j\[r. Reeder. How have you deternuued it, so far as Kansas is con- 
cerned; by boring down to the water'? 

Mr. Darton. Yes, sir; many of the wells have penetrated to the 
sandstone. Besides, there is a surface outcrop of it extending across 
the central portion of the State. Tliere can be no doubt but that this 
.sandstone passes under the Great Plains as a continuous sheet. Tliere 
is, however, no wiiy to demonstrate the water conditions under those 
sections which liave not had deep wells driven in them, except to bore 
experimental wells. In the Arkansas Valley, in eastern Colorado, 
and at the western margin of Kansas many wells have been sunk, and 
tliey have yielded the same abundant flow of water everywhere. Out 
Northwest, in Dakota, many wells are producing an enormous amount 
of water from the same bed of sandstone. In portions of eastern 
Ne1)raska, where the sandstone is near the surface, there are innn- 
meral)le wells which furnish an abundant water supply. 

JNTr. Reeder. Do they furnish a sufficient amount of water to be of 
value for farming purposes? 

Mr. Darton. In some cases, in South Dakota, they furnish enough 
for the irrigation of a whole section of land from one well. There are 
single wells there that flow nearly 4:,()(H) gallons of water a minute, 
and that is sufficient to much more than iiTigate a scpiare mile of land. 
The water flows out over the surface, and except on the very highest 
land, is under considerable pressure. There is, however, a large area 
in western Nebraska, western Kansas, and in a portion of eastern 
Coloi'ado which has not been explored underground. In mauj^ places 
wells have l)een suidc to a depth of 1,000 feet and they have obtained 
a small water supjjly, but not penetrated deep enough to reach the 
Dakota sandstone, or at least to thoroughly test its resources as a 
water l)earer. Thei-e is a region in nortlnvestern Kansas, the Oberlin 
region, wliere the top of the sandstone appears to have been reached 



AEID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 39 

at a depth of 1,000 feet. It yielded a flow of water which is too saline 
for use, but it is believed that peuetrating further into the sandstone 
at that place there will be obtained water of a better quality. Usu- 
ally the water is of an excellent quality. 

Mr. Ueeder. That is why I was inquiring whether there had been 
any observations made that would show that this water-bearing- sand- 
stone crosses Kansas and Nebraska, and you say that as it has been 
found farther south, it is reasonable to suppose that it underlies all 
of the western portion of Kansas; but absolutelj" there is no vraj to 
know about this except to bore. 

Mr. Darton. That is the only way to find out whether it would 
furnish a flow of water of good quality. The plan is now to sink 
wells to thoroughly test the amount of water, its head, so as to ascer- 
tain where it will give surface flow, and its character; that is to say 
its suitability for domestic purposes, and for stock, etc. A certain 
number of wells sunk at wide intervals through the Central Plains 
region would give us most valuable information as to the conditions 
over a verj^wide area now greatly in need of suitable water supplies. 

The precise area to which I refer is the western half of the State of 
Nebraska, the western half of Kansas, the eastern half of Colorado, 
the southwestern corner of South Dakota, and the southeastern corner 
of Wyoming. That is the area to which our investigation applies, 
and the one in which we believe experimental wells will throw a great 
light on the genei'al water-supply prol)lem. There are many points 
in this area in which wells may be expected to be successful and by 
their success give encouragement to individuals to sink wells. 

The Chairman. What is the cost of sinking a well and i^reparing 
it for irrigation, a thousand feet dee^)? 

Mr. Darton. Three or four thousand dollars, oi-dinarily; that is, 
under favorable conditions. 

Mr. Reeder. The borings already made indicate that in the section 
of Kansas I represent wells 1,000 feet deep would not be sufficient, 
but do you not think that wells 2,000 feet deep would test the matter 
thoroughl}'? 

The Chairman. What would they cost? 

Mr. Darton. Ten thousand dollars would pay for a propei'ly con- 
structed deep well. 

Mr. Newlands. Assuming a well 2,000 feet deep would cost $10,000, 
would there be a sufficient return from the water to warrant that 
expenditure? 

Mr. Darton. The water itself from such a well ought to be of value 
sufficient to compensate for its expense, but then the light it is to 
throw on the underground relations and position of the Dakota sand- 
stone and its water contents would be the principal feature of the 
experiment. 

The Chairman. How much would such a well irrigate? 

Mr. Darton. It is extremely" difficult to tell, for we can not predict 
in advance how much flow will be obtained. 

jMr. Reeder. You state that some of these wells in southern Dakota 
are capable of irrigating a whole section of land, but we do not know 
that it will be that much in Kansas, and what we want to know is 
whether it will justify our people, as private individuals, in going to 
that expense. 

Mr. Phillips. We can tell by putting down a well. 

The Chairman. You say one well in eastern South Dakota will irri- 
gate a square mile of land? 



40 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Mr. Uarton. Yes, sir; nndei" favorable conditions. 

Mr. Newlands. In South Dakota, where these wells have been 
developed, how many wells are there, and what area of land is irri- 
gated by tlieniV 

Mr. Darton. I liave returns from al)<)ut 300 deep wells in south- 
eastern Dakota, and the number of quarter sections irrigated there 
now is about 100. 

Mr. Newlands. Do you know what the average cost of those wells 
has been? 

Mr. Darton. Two thousand five liundred dollars, on the average, 
or possibly -i^OjOOO. The conditions are very favorable in that section. 

Mr. Newlands. What kind of wells are sunk there? 

Mr. Darton. Various kinds. In many cases the wells are shallow, 
but the number of very deep wells is about 120. 

Mr. Reeder. AVhat do you mean by very deep? 

Mr. Darton. Fourteen to sixteen hundred feet deep. On some of 
the higher hinds they are deeper. 

Mr. Newlands. Is it your o})ini(»n that the Dakota sandstone 
formation continues through weslcrn Kansas, and Nebraska and 
Colorado? 

Mr. Darton. Yes, sir; there seems to be no doul)t about it; we see 
it uptunied against the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and outcrop- 
ping in portions of the Arkansas Valley, and it has been penetrated 
by many wells in the Arkansas Valley. In central Kansas it lias 
been reached by a number of shallow wells. 

Mr. Reeder. It has been observed on four sides of the territory we 
are talking alxmt. 

Mr. Darton. Exactly. 

The Chairman. Now, in the wells where experimentation has been 
made and proved successful among the farmers they have been 
extremely useful? 

Mr. Darton. Yes, sir. Their greatest usefulness has been the sup- 
ply of watei" for stock; but, as l^efore stated, they have been used in 
eastern South Dakota for irrigation, and their great pressure also 
furnishes power to run electric-light plants, flouring mills, etc. The 
wells in the Arkansas Valley which reach the sandstone and furnish 
large volumes of water are used not only for local water supply but to 
supply small towns. The water of the Arkansas River is not agree- 
able to use, and the smaller sources of water supply — springs, etc. — 
are not adequate, so these artesian wells luive been sunk and furnish 
a fine supply from the sandstone; now nearly every little town in the 
Arkansas Valley, in eastern Colorado, has an artesian well as a source 
of water supply. 

We are m)t altogether certain as to the dei)th to the Dakota sand- 
stone in all portions of the Centi-al Plains region. Tliei'e is a mass of 
overlying clays of 1,500 feet and more in some places, and there is an 
extensive area in which no wells have been sunk sufficiently deep to 
penetrate these clays and reach the Dakota sandstone. Many wells 
have been sunk to a moderate depth, but have found the clay so diffi- 
cult to penetrate that boring operations have been discontinued on 
account of the expense and uncertainties. If wells could be sunk 
through the clays totlie Dakota sandstone and awater supply obtained, 
it would encourage numy persons to sink wells all over this region for 
themselves. You can not expect them to sink these wells without 
feeling certain that they will get a water supph'. 

Mr. Barham. AVherever these wells have been sunk is there any 
danuer of the water beins,- exhausted? I have heard thai wells some- 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 41 

times are exhausted aud give out in a short time and that the well 
proposition was a failure. 

Mr. Darton. That has not proved to be the case in southwestern 
Dakota, where there are many wells together in a small area. In the 
vicinity of Denver, Colorado, where there is a local artesian basin, the 
water now has to be pumped and has ceased to flow spontaneously. 
It has happened there, but the cause of it is the small size of that 
artesian basin. 

Mr. Barham. Is it only in an artesian basin that you get artesian 
water? 

Mr. Darton. Yes, sir. Where j^ou get flowing water there has to 
be an elevated source for it on one side at least. 

Mr. Barham. And in this Central Plains region you are tal king- 
about now, is it not artesian water? 

Mr. Darton. Yes, sir, it is; that is, it is water under great pres- 
sure, which causes it to rise above the surface or toward the surface. 

Mr. Sutherland. What do you mean by a small basin in and 
around Denver; wherein does that differ from the general area of 
which you have been speaking? 

Mr. Darton. It is a sandstone basin of small area. It has a small 
catchment area, and some of the water is free to escape, so that it does 
not carry a large volume of water, whereas this Dakota sandstone 
underljdng, as a continuous sheet, the whole of the vast Plains region, 
catches and holds the water in immense volume and under pressure 
given by the elevated source to the west. 

Mr. Sutherland. Then the conditions under tlie Central Plains 
differ from the local conditions at Denver? 

Mr. Darton. Yes, sir. I mention the Denver waters simply in reply 
to Mr. Barham's question as to whether there is any area in which 
the artesian water is giving out. This has nothing to do with the 
broad problem of the Dakota sandstone. 

Mr. Barham. That is what I am getting at. In the interior they 
have not found any diminution of the inflow. 

Mr. Darton. They have in some instances found that the flow was 
diminished, but that has been because the wells have l)ecome choked 
up with sand, or some other defect in the well; and new wells in the 
same vicinity always flow. 

Mr. Reeder. It seems to me the flow would become stronger rather 
than weaker, with the sinking of wells, for the reason tliat if you 
diminish the surface flow to the east there would be a tendency to clog 
up the sandstone with deposit. If you have the outlets shut up some- 
where, the water would rise higher in the wells. Noav the outlets at 
the eastern end are being kept open by the pressure of the outflowing 
water. This permits the water level to fall to a lower altitude than 
that which it would have if the openings in the sandstone at the eastern 
end were stopped up. The water goes under ground at an altitude of 
(j,000 feet, aud to the eastward; where the Dakota sandstone outcrops 
to the surface at much lower altitudes the water escapes through 
innumeralfle springs, and we have this leakage. 

Tlie Chairman. AVhydoes that leakage diminish tlie pressure to 
the west? 

Mr. Reeder. Because the water flows too freely to sustain the pres- 
sure. By the opening of wells through this country the water would 
have a greater vent by openings to the surface wliich would tend to 
maintain its flow nearer its source, and would not this make less pres- 
sure at the lower end? 

Mr. Darton. Yes, sir; if there were openings to the west there 



42 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

would be (limiiiislied pressure or volume of outflow along tlie eastern 
outcrops. 

The Chairman. And the more pressure you have liere along the 
outflow zone the more likely it is to be open and free there? 

Mr. Darton. Yes, sir; the volume of outflow would naturall}^ be 
greater. 

Mr. Newlands. Do you know wliat the source of the water is in 
the Dakota sandstone? Does it come from a stream? 

Mr. Darton. No, sir; it is mainly from tlie rainfall in the outcrop 
zone of the Dakota sandstone, which is 8 or 10 or 15 miles wide. The 
surface is very porous and the rain sinks into it. It is also well 
known that many of the streams crossing the outcrop zone lose more 
or less of their water, Avhich sinks into the porous sandstone. 

Mr. Reeder. I want to get at these points. You have looked into 
this matter thoroughly enough to know that this sandstone underlies 
all of western Kansas and Nebraska. There is no way for us to know 
whether the water from tliis sandstone can be brought to the surface 
without actually trying and making an exi^eriment. Such an experi- 
ment is so expensive that individuals can not aft'ord it. That is the 
point I wish to get before this committee, tliat this is merelj' a propo- 
sition to make sucli experiments as will show whether it is possible 
for us to obtain water supplies for this vast territory by this means. 
We are asking in bills II. R. ^o2i2, etc., 8-^5,OOU to nuike that 
experiment. 

Mr. Darton. The test wells are to obtain information and not water. 

Mr. Reeder. It is to obtain information and not water. Our peo- 
ple will o])tain the water if it can be demonstrated that it is there for 
us to obtain. That is my onlj^ point in the matter. 

The Chairman. In how many States in the United States do you 
think artesian wells could be obtained successfully? 

Mr. Darton. There are many. We know of numerous artesian 
basins scattered widely over the United States. But I have not 
studied in detail tliat question outside of the region of the Central 
Plains. 

Mr. Reeder. In most of these regions that you speak of, has not 
the discovery of artesian water been nuule l\y actual borings and find- 
ing the water, so that they have passed the stage we are at now? 

Mr. Darton. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Reeder. There is no great region that indicates in this way 
that the water is there, except this region, which has not been so 
tested? 

Mr. Darton. Not so far as I know. 

Mr. Sutherland. Observing Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Wash- 
inaton, what do you savof the possibilities of artesian basins in those 
States? 

Mr. Darton. 'I'here are artesian basins in those States, but they are 
outside of the area assigned to me for investigation. I have devoted 
myself entirely to the Central Plains I'egion for the last three or four 
years, and feel competent to speak of tluit area only. 

Mr. Reeder. Just to put those points that I wanted brought up to 
the committee, and it seems to me that it is as plain as can l)e, and I 
believe that is all the committee wants to consider — in the first i)lace, 
it is probable that these conditions exist; second, that there is so 
great an expense connected vritli making these experiments that you 
can ]iot expect individuals to do it for themselves. 

Mr. King. What is the sum carried in the appropriation bills for 
such investigations? 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 43 

STATEMENT OF FREDERICK H. NEWELL, HYDROGRAPHER, UNITED 
STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

Mr. Newell. The amount for investigation of water resources cov- 
ered by an item in the sundry civil bill has gradually increased from 
$12,500, in 1895, to 850,000, and last year it was put at $100,000. That 
includes investigation all over the United States, with regard to water 
in streams or under ground. 

The Chairman. Do you know how much is carried in the various 
bills for the Department of Agriculture and the Geological Survey in 
the direction of experiments in regard to irrigation? 

Mr. Newell. The Appropriations Committee of the House is inter- 
ested in that question, and l)y instructions from that committee the 
various items of appropriation made during the last twelve years have 
been assembled, including various lines relating to irrigation. These 
include the construction of ditches on Indian reservations, the pur- 
chase of tools, implements, water rights, etc., as well as investigations 
of various kinds in all parts of the United States. An abstract of 
these laws and appropriation acts is presented herewith. 

IRRIGATION SURVEYS AND INVESTIGATIONS BY THE UNITED STATES 
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

LEGISLATION. 

The United States Geological Survey is concerned with the water 
resources of the country primarily through what is known as the 
organic law contained in the act of Congress of March 3, 1879. To the 
paragraph creating the office of Director of the Geological Survey the 
following proviso was attached: 

* * * That this officer shall have the direction of the Geological Survey, 
and the classihcation of the public lands and examination of the geological struc- 
ture, mineral resources, and products of the national domain and that the Director 
and members of the Geological Survey shall have no personal or private interests 
in the lands or mineral wealth of the regiim under survey, and shall execute no 
surveys or examinations for private parties or corporations. (Approved March 
3, ISTy. Stat. L.. vol. 20. p. ;Jt)4. j 

The first requisite in the " classification of the public lauds and the 
examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and prod- 
ucts of the national domain," is a topographic map for guidance and 
for exhibiting the results. Since the organization of the Survey, there- 
fore, a large part of its energies has lieen concentrated on the prepa- 
ration of such a map, showing all ele^'ations bj' means of contours, 
also the location of streams, towns, roads, raih-oads, and canals for 
irrigation or transportation, isolated houses, and boundaries of States, 
counties, and towns. Tliis map exhiljitsthe drainage area of streams, 
the relative elevations of catchment basins and irrigal)le lands, the 
topographic features favorable to water conservation, the Land Office 
lines, the slopes of valleys, and many other details of importance to the 
development of water powers and of irrigation or the reclamation of 
the arid lands. 

In 1887 the Director of the Geological Survey was called upon l\y 
Congress to consider the question of Federal recognition of the irri- 
gation subject. A resolution was passed requiring the Secretary of 
the Interior, by means of the Director of the Geological Survey, to 
make an investigation of that portion of the arid region of the United 



44 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

States where agrieulture is carried on by means of irrigation. The 
resolution reads as follows: 

Whereas a large portion of the uiioccnpied public lands of the United States 
is located within what is known as the arid region, and now utilized only for 
grazing purposes, but much of which, l)y means of irrigation, may be rendered 
as fertile and productive as any land in the world, capable of supporting a large 
population, thereby adding to the national wealth and prosperity: 

Whereas all the water flowing during the summer months in many of the 
streams of the Rocky Mountains, upon which chiefly the husbandman of the 
plains and the mountain valleys chiefly depends for moisture for his crops, has 
been appropriated and is used for tlie Irrigation of lands contiguous thereto, 
whereby a comparatively small area has been reclaimed: and 

Whereas there are many natural depressions near the sources and along the 
courses of these streams which may be converted into reservoirs for the storage 
of the surplus water wiiich during the wintei- and spring seasons flows through 
the streams: from which reservoirs the water there stored can be drawn and 
conducted through properly constructed canals, at the i)roper season, thus bring- 
ing large areas of land into cultivation, and making desirable much of the public 
land for which there is now no demand: therefore be it 

Rrsolrcd hi/ the Senate ami House of Hein-esentatires of the United States of 
A)iierie(( in Conc/ress assendiled. That the .Secretary of the Interior, by means of 
the Director of the Geological Survey, be, and he is hereby, directed to make au 
examination of that portion of the arid regions of the United States where agri- 
culture is carried on by means of irrigation, as to the natural advantages for the 
storage of water for irrigating purposes with the practicability of constructing 
reservoirs, together with the capacity of the streams and the cost of construction 
and capacity o'-' reservoirs, and such other fa( ts as bear on the iiuestion of storage 
of water for irrigating purposes: and that he be further directed to reporr ti) Con- 
gress as soon as practicable the result <if such investigation. (Approved March 
20, 1888. Stat. L., vol. 2o. pp. 018, 019.) 

This was followed bj' the passage of an act containing an appropria- 
tion of -ii^l()O,0()O for the purpose of investigating the extent to which 
the arid region of the United States can l)e redeemed by irrigation. 
This act is as follows: 

For the purpose of investigating the extent to which the arid region of the 
United States can be redeemed by irrigation, and the segregation of the irrigable 
lands in such arid region, and for the selection of sites for reservoirs and other 
hydraulic works necessary for the storage and utilizat on of water for irrigation 
and the prevention of floods and overflows, and to make the ne "es-ary maps, includ- 
ing the pay of employees in field and in ottice, the cost of all instruments, aitpara- 
tus, and materials, and all other necessary expenses connected therewith, the work 
to be peformed liy the C-Jeological Survey, under the direction of the Secretary of 
the Interior, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars or so much thereof as may 
be necessary. And the Director of the Geological Survey, under the supervision 
of the Secretary of the Interior, shall make a report to Congress on the first Monday 
in December of each year, showing in detail how the said money has been expended, 
the amount used for actual survey and engineer work in the field in locating sites 
for reservoirs, and an itemizel account of the expenditure under this appropria- 
tion. And all the lands which may hereafter be designated or selected by such 
United States surveys for sites for reservoirs, ditches, or canals for irrigation pur- 
poses and all the lands made susceptible of irrigation by such reservoirs, ditches, 
or canals are from this time henceforth hereby reserved from sale as the property 
of the United States, and shall not be subject after the passage of this act to entry, 
settlement, or occupation until further provided by law: 

Proviih:d, That the Presi<lent may at any time in his discretion by prDclamation 
open any portion or all of the lands reserved l)y this provision to settlement under 
the homestead laws. (Approved October 2, 1888. Stat. L., vol. 25, pp. ,")20, 527.) 

In the following year ^250,000 was appropriated for continuing the 
work. (Approved 'March 2, 1881). Stat. L., vol. 25, p. 900.) 

A poi-tion of the law passed Octol)er 2, 1888, was repealed by the 
following ]»rovision in the act approved August 30, 18'.)0 (Stat. L., 
vol. 21"), [). ^!'.n), and no appropriation was made for irrigation work as 
such : 

For topographic surveys in various portions of the United States, three hun- 
dred and twenty-five thousand dollars, one-half of which sum shall be expended 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 45 

west of the one hundredth meridian; and so much of the act of October second, 
eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, entitled "'An act making appropriations for 
sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, 
eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and for other pui'poses," as provides for the 
withdrawal of the public lands from entry, occupation, and settlement, is hereby 
repealed, an 1 all entries made or claims initiated in good faith and valid but for 
said act. shall be recognized and may be perfected in the same manner as if said 
law had not been enacted, except that reservoir sites heretofore located or selected 
shall remain segregated and reserved from entry or settlement as provided by 
said act, until otherwise provided by law, and reservoir sites hereafter located or 
selected on public lands shall in like manner be reserved from the date of the loca- 
tion or selection thereof. 

No person who shall after the passage of this act. enter upon any of the public 
lands with a view to occupation, entry or settlement under any of the land laws 
shall be permitted to acquire title to more than three hundred and twenty acres 
in the aggregate, under all of said laws, but this limitation shall not operate to 
curt lil the right of any person who has heretofore made entry or settlement on 
the public lands, or wliose occupation, entry or settlement is validated by this 
act: Provider^. That in all patents for lands hereafter taken up under any of the 
land laws of the United States or on entries or claims validated by this act west 
of the one hundredth me idian, it shall be expressed that there is reserved from 
the lands in said patent described, a right of way thereon for ditches and canals 
constructed by the atithoritv of the United States. (Approved August 30. isQC. 
Stat. L., vol. 26. p. 391.) 

Under this law tlie Survey selected and mapped a larj>e number of 
re.servoir sites, which have been noted on the records of the General 
Land Office, and are now reserved from entry or settlement. Descrip- 
tions of these sites maj^ be found in the Tenth, P^leventh, Twelfth, 
and Thirteenth Annual Reports of the Geological Survey. 

From the above cited paragraphs it appears that the portion of the 
original law approved Octol)er 2, 1888, which affected the withdrawal 
of the iDublic lands from entry, occupation, and settlement Avas 
repealed, but that the remaining portions of the law were unaffected 
by the act of repeal, and that there is still on the statute books 
authority for making an examination of the arid region of the United 
States, for ascertaining the capacity of the streams, and "for the 
selection of sites for reservoirs and other hydraulic works necessary 
for the storage and utilization of water for irrigation and the preven- 
tion of floods and overflows, and to make the necessary maps." 

In the repealing act it was specifically i^rovided that the reservoir 
sites shall remain segregated for such use, and in a law entitled "An 
act to repeal timlier-culture laws, and for other purposes," approved 
March 3, 1891, it is provided: 

That reservoir sites located or selected and to lie located and selected under the 
provisions of "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the 
Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty- 
nine, and for other purposes,'" and amendments thereto, shall be restricted to and 
shall contain onlj' so much land as is actually necessary for the construction and 
maintenance of reservoirs: excluding so far as practicable lands occupied by 
actual settlers at the date of the location of said reservoirs. (Stat. L.. vol. 2('>. 

p. not.) 

Approjiriat ion for in-h/afioii siirrcijs (I'oinlJ). incIinJiiH/ (op()(/riij>liic viajqu'iig. 



Year. 


Item. 


Amount. 


Statutes at 
Large. 


1889.... 




SI 00, 11(10 
;.V)0,000 


Vol. 'Zrt. p. .536. 


1S90.... 


Investigatiou of arid regiou and topographic surveys 


Vol. 2.5, p. 9G0. 



Under the various laws above cited, sj'stematic measurements of 
the streams of the arid regions were begun bj^ the Division of Hydrog- 
raphy, and were continued after August 30, 1890, as incidental to the 



46 



AKID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



topographic surveys and selection of reservoir sites. By act of 
August 18, 1894, the following specific ajipropriation was made for 
this class of work: 

For gauging the streams aud determining the water supply of the United 
States, including the investigation of underground currents and artesian wells in 
arid and semiarid sections, twelve thousand five hundred dollars. (Approved 
August 18, 1894. Stat. L., vol. 28, p. ;1U8.) 

A further appropriation by act approved March 2, 1805 (Stat. L., 
vol. 28, p. 940), made available the sum of 820,000 for the fiscal year 
1895-9fi, and a later act was worded as follows: 

For gauging the streams and determining the water supply of the United 
States, including the investigation of underground currents and artesian wells in 
arid and semiarid sections, and the preparation of reports upon the best methods 
of utilizing the water resources of said sections, fifty thousand dollars. (Approved 
June 11, l"8'.Mj. Stat. L., vol. 3it, p. -ISii.) 

Provision has been made for printing the reports for popular dis- 
tribution by the following clause in the act last named: 

Provided. That hereafter the reports of the Geological Survey in relation to the 
gauging of streams and to the methods of utilizing the water resources may be 
printed in octavo form, not to exceed lOO pages in length and 5.000 copies in num- 
ber; 1,000 copies of which shall be for the official use of the Geological Survey, 
1,500 copies shall be delivered to the Senate, and 2,500 copies shall be delivered to 
the House of Representatives, for distribution. (Approved June 11, 18'.'6. Stat. 
L.. vol. 21t, p. 45:5.) 

The current appropriation for the year ending June 30, 1901, 
8100,000, is similar to the above, with a slight change in the wording, 
as follows: 

For gauging the streams and determining the water supply of the United 
States, and for the investigation of underground currents and artesian wells in 
arid and semiarid sections, and the preparation of reports upon the best methods 
of utilizing the water resources of said sections, one hundred thousand dollars. 
(Approved June (5, 1000. Stat. L., vol. -M. p. (U7. ) 

The amounts appropriated for gauging streams, etc., in the sundry 
civil acts are as follows: 

Sinnmary of appropriations for ganging streams {Walcott). 



Year. 


Item. 


Amount. 


Approved. 


statute at 
Large. 


1.SH5 




81:2. r)(K) 
;io,(ioo 
4,5(10 
5(1.110(1 
5(1.0110 
.50,0(1(1 
50.000 

;.'o. 000 

100.000 
357, (J(H) 


Aug. 18, 1894 
Mar. :-•, 1895 
Apr. 14,189(> 
June 11, 189() 
June 4,1897 
July 1.1898 
Mar. 3,1899 
Mar. 30,1900 
Juno 0,1900 


Vol. 38, p. 398 
Vol. 38, p. 940 
Vol. 39. p. 104 
Vol. 39, p. 4:J6 
Vol. 30, p. 37 
Vol. 30, p. J333 
Vol. 30, p. 1099 


1890 




189i; 

1897 

l.sos 


Gaug-iug streams ( a,i;rleultural) 

tT.iuginy st i-eams 


18'.)9 _. 

. 1900 


O auging .streams 

(Tauii'i'i)!; .streams 


190) . . . 


(i.aug'ing streams (deficiency) 

Gauging streams 

Total 


Vol. 31, p. 57 
Vol. 31, p. 617 


1901 









CONSTRUCTING IRRIGATING DITCHES, ETC., UNDER INDIAN OFFICE. 

LEGISLATION. 



Tlie Office of Indian Affairs, having in cliarge the execution of vari- 
ous acts of Congress relative to the Indians, has, as incidental to the 
.support of various tribes located within tlie arid region, the construe- 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 47 

tion and maintenance of irrigation canals, the sinlcing of artesian 
wells, and the providing of other means of water snijply. 

For the construction, purchase, and use of irrigating machinery and appliances 
in Arizona, Montana, and Nevada for the uses of Indian reservations, in the dis- 
cretion of the Secretary of the Interior and subject to his control, thirty thousand 
dollars, to be immediately available. (Approved March 3. 1891. Stat. L., vol. 26, 
p. 1011.) 

The most important irrigation system under construction by the 
Indian Office is that upon the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. 
This results from the agreement concluded with the Crow Indians 
December 8, 1890, and ratified by the act of Marcli 3, 1891, appropri- 
ating $200,000. By a supplemental agreement concluded August 27, 
1892, a further sum of 6200,000 was added to the irrigation fund, with 
the provision that not exceeding $100,000 might l)e used in any one 
year, and if a less sum were expended in any one year the difference 
might thereafter be expended in addition to the $100,000 available for 
that 3'ear. 

There is hereby appropriated and set apart two hundred thousand dollars to be 
expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior in the building of 
dams, canals, ditches, and laterals for the purposes of irrigation in the valleys of 
the Big Horn and the Little Big Horn rivers, and on Pryor Creek and such other 
streams as the Secretary of the Interior may deem proper; Provided, That not to 
exceed fifty thousand dollars shall be expended annually in performing this work: 
And provided fuvtlier. That the superintendent in charge of said works shall, in 
the employment of laborers, be required to give preference to such Indians of the 
Crow tribe as are competent and willing to work at the average wages paid to 
common laborers for the same kind of work, and the labor so employed shall be 
paid in cash. 

That the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars is hereby appropriated and set 
apart as an irrigating fund, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary 
of the Interior for the maintenance and management of the system of irrigation 
provided for in this agreement. (Stat. L., vol. ^6, p. 1040. ) 

Irrigation Indian reservations: For the construction, purchase, and use of irri- 
gating machinery and appliances on Indian reservations, in the discretion of the 
Secretary of the Interior and subiect to his control, forty thousand dollars, 
(Approved July 13, 1892. Stat. L., vol. 27, p. 137.) 

A number of annual appropriations have been made for the purpose 
of constructing irrigating ditches, for the purchase of machinerj', and 
for sinking artesian wells, as well as occasional appropriations for 
suppljing water on various Indian reservations. The following are 
the most important of these acts: 

For the construction of irrigating ditches and the development of a water sup- 
ply for agricultural, stock, and domestic purposes on the Navajo Indian Reserva- 
tion, forty thousand dollars, to be expended in the discretion of the Secretary of 
the Interior. ( Approved March 3, 1893. Stat. L., vol. 27, pp. 027,628.) 

In addition to this sum of $40,000, tliere was a balance of about 
$20,000 remaining from previous appropriations, making a total of 
$60,000, regarded as available for this j)urpose. 

For the construction, purchase, and use of irrigating machinery and appliances 
on Indian reservations, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, forty 
thousand dollars: Provided, That of this sum a sufficient amount may be used to 
sink one artesian well at each of the three following places, namely: Rosebud Res- 
eiwation, Standing Rock Reservation, and Pine Ridge Reservation, in South 
Dakota, neither of said wells to cost more than five thousand dollars. (Approved, 
March 3, 1893. Stat. L., vol. 27, p. 631.) 

For the construction, purchase, and use of irrigating machinery and appliances 
on Indian reservations, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior aud sub- 
ject to his control, thirty thousand dollars. 

The Secretary of the Interior is directed to contract with responsible parties for 
the construction of irrigating canals and the purchase or securing of water sup- 
ply on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, in the State of Idaho, for the purpose of 



48 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

irrigating the lands of said reservation: Pmridcd, That the expense of construct- 
ing said canals and the purchase or securing of water supply shall be paid out of 
moneys belonging to tlio^ said Fort Hall Indians now in the Treasury of the United 
States and suijject to tho disposition of the Secretary of the; Int-riur for the bene- 
fit of said Indians. (Approved, August 15, is9;. Stat. L., vol. :28, p. :30o. ) 

For the construction, purchase, and use of irrigating machinery and appliances 
on Indian reservations, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior and sub- 
ject to his control, thirty thousand dollars. (Approved, March 2. l.sy.j. Stat. L., 
vol. 2s, p. 900. ) 

For the construction, purchase, and use of irrigating tools and appliances on 
Indian reservations, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, and subject 
to his control, thirty thousand dollars, and of this amount not exceeding two 
thousand seven hundred dollars may be used for the temporary employment of 
persons of practical experience in irrigation work at a compensation not to exceed 
seventy-five dollars per month, each, and not exceeding one thousand five hundred 
dollars for necessary traveling and incidental expenses of such persons. (Approved, 
June 10, 180(1. Stat. L.. vol. 20, p. ;341.) 

To enable the Secretary of the Interior to put down an artesian well or wells at 
or near Lake Andes, on the Yankton Indian Reservation, South Dakota, at such 
place or places as he may determine, for the purpose of supplying said Indians 
with water for domestic purposes, for stock, and for irrigation purposes, five 
thousand dollars. (Approved. June 10, 180(i. Stat. L., vol. 20, p. ;j4;5. ) 

For construction of ditches and reservoirs, purchase and use of irrigating tools 
and a}»pliances on Indian reservations, in the discretion of the Secretary of the 
Interior and subject to his control, thirty thousand elollars: and of this amount 
not exceeding two thousand seven hundred dollars may be used for the temporary 
employment of persons of practical experience in irrigation work, at a compensa- 
tion not to exceed one hundred dollars per month each, and not exceeding one 
thousand five hundred dollars for necessary traveling and incidental expenses of 
such persons. (Approved, June 7, 1897. Stat. L.. vol. 30, p. 8.j. ) 

For construction of ditches and reservoirs, purchase and use of irrigating tools 
and appliances, and purchase of water rights in Indian reservations, in the discre- 
tion of the Secretary of the Interior and subiect to his control, forty thousand dol- 
lars. (Approved. July 1. 1898. Stat. L.. vol. 30, p. 591.) 

The Secretary of the Interior shall make investigation as to the practicability of 
providing a water supply for irrigation purposes, to be used on a portion of the 
reservation of the Southern Utes in Colorado, and he is authorized, in his discre- 
tion, to contract for. and to expend from the funds of said Southern Utes in the 
purchase of, perpetual water rights sufficient to irrigate not exceeding ten thou- 
sand acres on the western part of the Southern Ute Reservation, and for annual 
charges for maintenance of such water thereon, such amount and upon such terms 
and conditions as to him may seem just and reasonable, not exceeding one hun- 
dred and fiftv thousand dollars for the purchase of such ji rpetual water rights, 
and not e vceeding a maximum of fifty cents per acre for the main t< nance of water 
upon land irrigated, provided that after such an investigation he shall find all the 
essential conditions relative to the water siipply and to the perpetuity of its avail- 
ability for use upon said lands, such as in his judgment will justify a contract for 
its perpetual use: I'roridi-d. That the Secretary of the Interior, upon making all 
such contracts, shall require from the person or persons entering into such con- 
tracts a bond of indemnity, to be approved liy him, for the faithful and continu- 
ous execution of such contract as provided therein. (Approved, July 1, 1898. 
Stat. L., vol. 30. p. .593.) 

For ascertaining the depth of the bed rock at a place on the Gila River in Crila 
County, Ari/^iina. known as The Buttes, and particularly descrilied in Senate Doc- 
ument Numbered Twenty-seven. Fifty-fourth Congress, second session, and for 
ascertaining the feasibility, and estimating in detail the cost, of the construction 
of a dam across the river at that point for i)urpose of irrigating the Sacaton Res- 
ervation, and for ascertaining the average daily fiow of water in the river at that 
point, twenty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, the same 
to be expended by the director of the United States CTei)logieal Survey, under the 
direction of the Secretary of the Interior: I'rovidid, That nothing herein shall be 
construed as in any way committing the United States to the construction of said 
dam. And said director shall also ascertain and report upon the feasibility and 
cost of the Queen Creek project mentioned in said Senate document. (Approved, 
July 1, 1898. Stat. L., vol. 30, p. 594.) 

For construction of ditches and reservoirs, purchase and use of irrigating tools 
and appliances, and purchase of water rights on Indian reservations, in the dis- 
cretion of the Secretary of the Interior, and subject to his control, forty thousand 
dollars. (Approved, March 1, 1899. Stat. L., vol. 30, pp. 940. 941.) 



ARID LAiS^DS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



49 



That the Secretary of the Interior shall make investigation as to the practica- 
bility of providing a water supjily tor irrigation purposes, to be used on a portion 
of the reservation of the Sotithern Utes in Colorado, and he is authorized, in his 
discretion, to contract for, and to expend from the funds of said Southern Utes in 
the purchase of, perpetual water rights sufficient to irrigate not exceeding ten 
thousand acres on the western part of the Southern Ute Reservation, and for 
annual charges for maintenance of such water thereon, such amount and upon 
such terms and conditions as to him may seem just and reasonable, not exceeding 
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the purchase of such perpetual water 
rights, and not exceeding a maximum of fifty cents per acre jier annum for the 
maintenance of water upon the land to be irrigated: F^mvided. That after such 
an investigation he shall find all the essential conditions relative to the water sup- 
ply and to the perpetuity of its availability for use upon said lands, such as in his 
jvidgment will justify a contract for its perpetual use: Proi-idrd, That the Secre- 
tary of the Interior, upon making all such contracts, shall require from the i^er- 
son or persons entering upon such contract, a bond of indemnity, to be approved 
by him, for the faithful and continuous execution of such contract as provided 
therein." (Approved. March 1, is'.H). Stat. L., vol. 30, p. 941.) 

For construction of ditches and reservoirs, purchase and use of irrigating tools 
and appliances, and purchase of water rights, on Indian reservations, in the dis- 
cretion of the Secretary of the Interior, and subject to his control, fifty thousand 
dollars: Pmriiled. That the Secretary of the Interior may employ superintendents 
of irrigation, who shall be skilled irrigating engineers, not to exceed two. as in his 
judgment may be necessary to secure the construction of ditches and other irri- 
gation works in a substantial atid workmanlike manner: and also one clerk in the 
Office of Indian Affairs, ata salary of one thousand dollars per annum. (Approved, 
May 31, 1900. Stat. L.. vol. 31, p. 339.) 

The principal appropriations for the eonstritction of irrigation 
ditches, etc., nnder the Office of Indian Affairs are as follows: 

Principal appvopriations for construction of irrigation ditcJies. etc., nnder Office 

of Indian Affairs. 



Year 

end- 
ing— 



1892 
1893 
189:^ 
1S9-1 
1894 
1895 
1895 
1896 
1897 
1897 
189R 
1899 
1899 
1899 
1900 
1900 
1901 



Item. 



Irrigating- machinery 

Crow Indians 

Irrigating machinery 

Navajo Indians 

Irrigation and artesian wells 

Irrigation machinery, etc 

Fort Hull Canal (cost not stated). 

Irrigation, etc _ 

do _ 

Artesian well. South Dakota 

Construction of ditches, etc 

do 

Southern Ute ( S150,(KI( ().... 

Gila River, Buttes dam 

Construction of ditches, etc 

Southern Utes (Slo0,()00 ) 

Construction of ditches, etc 



Total 



Amount. 



>;o.(Kio 

L'75,U(I() 
40,fK)0 
40, (HKI 
40,(1(10 
30.000 



30,000 

:>o,ooo 

5,0{K) 
30.000 
40. 0(X) 



20,000 
40. 000 



50. 000 



700, 000 



Date ap- 
proved. 



Statutes at 
Large. 



Mar. 3,1891 

do. 

July 13, 1892 
Mai-. 3,1893 

do 

Aug. 15. 1894 



Mar. 2,1895 
June 19, 1896 

do 

June 7,1897 
July 1,1898 

do 

do 

Mar. 1,1899 

do 

May 31,1900 



Vol. 26, 
Vol. 26, 
Vol. 27, 
Vol. 27, 
Vol. 27, 
Vol 28, 
Vol. 28, 
Vol. 28, 
Vol. 29. 
Vol. 29, 
Vol. 30, 
Vol. 30, 
Vol. 30, 
Vol. 30, 
Vol. 30, 
Vol. 30, 
Vol. 31, 



p. 1011 
p. 1040 

p. 137 

p. 627 

p. 631 

p. 305 

p. 305 

p. 900 

p. 341 

p. 343 

p. 85 

p. 591 

p. .593 

p. .594 

p. 940 

p. 941 

p. 239 



IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS OF THE DEPART.MENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Office of Irrigaii on Inquiry. — This office was created in 1890, and 
continneJ, by varions acts of Congress, until 1802. These acts are 
as follows: 

Location for artesian n^ells: To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to make 
such preliminary investigation of an engineering and other character as will, so 
far as practicable, determine the proper location for artesian wells for irrigation 
purposes within the area west of the ninety-seventh meridian and east of the foot- 
hills of the Rocky Mountains, twenty thousand dollars; and a report of all opera- 
tions and expenditures hereunder shall be made to Ci ingress immediately after 
July first, eighteen hundred and ninety: Praridcd, That no part of said amount 

11196—01 4 



50 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

shall be expended in sinking wells or the construction of irrigation works, and the 
work done under this appropriation shall be completed and a report of the same 
made within the appropriation, and nothing herein shall commit the Government 
to any plan of irrigation or the construction of works therefor. (Approved April 
4, 18110. Stat. L., vol. ~'<J. p. 42.) 

In-'tqatioii iiirrstiydfioiis: To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to continue to 
completion his investigations for the purpose of determining the extent and avail- 
ability for irrigation of the underflow and artesian waters within the region 
between the ninety-seventh degree of longitude and the eastern foothills of the 
Rocky Mountains, and to colle;t and publish information as to the best methods 
of cultivating the soil by irrigation, forty thousand dollars: Provided, That no 
part of said sum shall be expended under unless the entire investigation, collec- 
tion, and publication contemplated herein, including the report thereon, can be 
fully and tinally completed and finished before July first, eighteen hundred and 
niuety-oiie. without any additional expense, cost, or charge being incurred. 
(Approved September ;!(). issto. Stat. L.. vol. 2C). p. o'Jij. ) 

L'diitiiKjciit e.vjifiisrs: The time for the final completion of the report of (-he 
extent and availability for irrigation by the underflow and artesian water within 
the region between the ninety-seventh degree of longitude and the eastern foot- 
hills of the Rocky Mountains, and the correction and publication of information 
as to the best method of cultivating the soil by irrigation, limited to the first of 
July, eighteen hundred and ninety-one. by the act of September thirtieth, eighteen 
hundred and ninety, is hereby extended to the first day of January, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-two; and the sum of ten thousand dollars is hereby appro- 
priated to enable tlie Secretary of Agriculture to correct and publish information 
as to the best methods of cultivating the soil by irrigation. (Approved March 3, 
1891. Stat. L., vol. ','0, p. 1052.) 

The balance of the sum of ten thousand dollars, appropriated by act of March 
third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, to enable the Secretary of Agriculture to 
collect and imblish infonnation as to the best methods of cultivating the soil by 
irrigation, remaining unexpended on January first, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
two, is hereby ieai)propriated and made available for said purposes until the 
fifteenth day of April next, and out of said amount the disbursing officer of the 
Department of Agriculture shall be reimbursed in the sum of nine hundred and 
eighteen dollars and seventy-six cents by him paid out since January first, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-two, as salaries and ex]ienses of the division of said Depart- 
ment having charge of the irrigation nKjuiry. and from said amount there shall 
also be paid all unpaid balances of compensation due persons heretofore employed 
in said division for services rendered and not yet paid for, said report and all pro- 
ceedings hereunder to be completed bv the fifteenth day of April. (Approved 
March 18, 1892. Stat. L., vol. 27, p. in.) 

The Office of Irriiititioii Inquiiy was rooriiaiiized in 1892, and annual 
appropriations have been made as follows: 

To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to collect information as to the best 
modes of agriculture by irrigation, six thousand dollars. (Approved July 5, 1893. 
Stat.L.,vol.'3:,p.7(i.) 

To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to continue the collection of information 
as to the best modes of agriculture bv irrigation, six thousand dollars. (Approved 
March o. 1898. Stat. L.. vol. 27, p. 741. ) 

To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to continue the collection of information 
as to the best modes of agriculture bv irrigation, six thousand dollars. (Approved 
August s. 1894. Stat. L.>ol. 28. p. 27 1. ) 

To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to continue the collection of information 
as to the best modes of agriculture by irrigation, fifteen thousand dollars. 
(Approved March 2. 1895. Stat. L. . vol. 2s. p. 7o-"). ) 

No appi-opriations for irrii^ation investigations by the Department 
of Ai;-i'i<'n!ture were made from IS'.ia to IS'.IS: 

Ii-riijafioii infuriiKtfioii: For the purpose of collecting from agricultural colleges, 
agricultural experiment stations, and other sources, including the employment of 
practical agents, valuable information and data on the subject of irrigation, and 
piiblishing the same in bulletin form, ten thousand dollars. (Approved March 
22, 1898. Stat. L.. vol. 30. p. :j:;5. ) 

fi-rigafioii iiire.<:fi(j(tfi(nis: To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to inve.stigate 
and report upon the laws and institutions relating to irrigation and upon the use 
of irrigation waters, with special suggestions of better methods for the utilization 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



51 



of irrigation waters in agriculture than those in common use, and for the prepa- 
ration, printing, and illustration of reports and bulletins on irrigation; and the 
agricultural experiment stations are hereby authorized and directed to cooperate 
with the Secretary of Agriculture in carrying out said investigations in such man- 
ner and to such extent as may be warranted by a diie regard to the varying con- 
ditions and needs of the respective States and Territories, and as maybe 'mutually 
agreed upon: and ten thousand dollars of the amount hereby appropriated shall 
be immediately available, thirty-five thousand dollars. (Approved March 1, 1899. 
Stat. L., vol. 30, p. 953.) 

Irrigation iiivcsfigafions: To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to investigate 
and report upon the laws and institutions relating to irrigation and upon the use 
of irrigation waters, with especial suggestions of better methods for the utilization 
of irrigation waters in agriculture than those in common use. and for the prepa- 
ration, printing, and illustration of reports and bulletins on irrigation; and the 
agricultural experiment stations are hereby authorized and directed to cooperate 
with the Secretary of Agriculture in carrying out said investigations in such man- 
ner and to such extent as may be warranted by a due regard to the varying con- 
ditions and needs of the respective States and Territories as may be mutually 
agreed upon, fifty thousand dollars. (Approved May 25, 1900. Stat. L., vol. 31, 
p. 199.) 

Suminarized, tlie appropriations for irrigation investigations of the 
Department of Agricnlture are as follows: 

Appropriations for irrigation investigations of tlie Departnwnt of Agriculture. 



Year. 



I89n 

1801 
1893 
1893 
1891 
1895 
1896 
1897 
1898 
1899 
1900 
1901 



Item. 



Artesian wells 

Irrigation investigation. 

Underflow 

Modes of irrigation 

do 

do 

do 



Amount. Approved. 



S'20,(K)0 

Ki.nno 

i(l.(K)ll 
6.(MK) 
tj,(NH1 
6.000 

1.5, 000 



Apr. 1,1890 
Sept. 30, 1890 
Mar. :J, 1891 



Jiilv 
Mai-. 
Aug. 
Mar. 



5,1893 
3. 1893 
8, 1S91 
3, 1895 



Statutes at 
Large. 



Vol. 26. p. 43 
Vol. 26, p. 536 
Vol. 26, p. 1052 
Vol. 27. p. 70 
Vol. 27, p. 741 
Vol. 38, p. 371 
Vol. 28, p. 735 



Irrigation information 

Irrigation laws, etc 

do 



10,000 
35, 000 

50, am 



Mar. 32, 1898 
Mar. 1,1899 
May 35,1900 



Vol.30,p.3:» 
Vol. 30, p. 9.53 
Vol. 31, p. 199 



Total 



198,000 



SUMMARY OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

Summarized, the direct appropriations are as follows: 
Sununarij of direct ap2)ropii\ttions. 



Item. 



Arid-land survey (Powell) 

Gaging streams (Walcott) . -. 

Construction ditches, etc.. Indian Office 

Irrigation investigations, Dejiartment of Agriculture. 



Total 



Years. 



1888-1.S90 
189.5-1901 
1S94-1901 
1890-1901 



Amount. 



S350, 0(K3 
357,000 
700, (X)0 
198,000 

1,605,000 



The total of 'Sl,fi05,000 approjiriated directly foi- surveys, investiga- 
tions, and construction having to do with irrigation is by no means 
the total chargeable to the arid regions. It forms a i)oi'tion of vari- 
ous items of work which has been and is being carried on by several 
organizations and bureaus. 

For example, the first item of !t^3oO,000 for ariddand surveys was 
for the most part devoted to topographic mapping of the catchment 



52 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

■basins of the importaut streains, work which previous to 1SS8-1S0O 
had been carried on under the approi)riation for topography, and 
wliicli was subsecpiently resumed under tliat head. It is, therefore, 
but a snuiU part of the several million dollars already expended in 
mapping the public lands of the West. 

Tlie next item of 1357,000 for gaging the streams is not strictly 
chargeable to tlie arid region, since about one-foiirth to one-third of 
the amount has been expended in measuring the streams in the humid 
regions of the East, where water i^ower is of greatest importance. 

The third and largest item in the statement, $700,000, is, in round 
numbers, the amount appropriated for tlie construction of ditches, 
canals, and reservoirs for the Indians, for purchasing water rights, 
and for tools. Many times this amount has presumably been spent 
within the Indian reser\ations, the greater i)a]'t of which are within 
the arid region, in otlier work relating to agriculture by irrigation. 
Kot all of this 8700,(HH) appnipriation lias been expended, as much of 
it has been appropriated for water rights which have not yet been 
acquired. 

The fourth item of appropriation, ^108,()0() to tlie Department of 
Agriculture, is also only a small proportion of the total amount 
expended for agricultural colleges and experiment stations within 
the arid regions. In effect it increases the efficiency of the experi- 
ment stations along lines of work which have been initiated toward 
assisting the farmers of the arid region to improve their condition. 

Besides the items mentioned, several million dollars have been 
expended under the General Land Oflice in surveying and subdivid- 
ing tlie lands of the arid region: also in various military expeditions 
and in explorations for railroads. All of t he information thus obtained 
in its way liecomes part of the broad knowledge upon which must lie 
based general conclusions as to tlie extent to wliicli the arid lands can 
be redeemed liy irrigation. 

While on the one hand the items of direct appropriation wliich I 
have noted form but a small proportion of the total sum expended 
upon prolilems connected with the arid land, it must not l^e supiiosed 
that these appropriations have been intended or expended specificall}' 
in ascertaining the cost and benefit of reclaiming the arid region. 
Most of the expenditures liave been, as already stated, along the line 
of olitaining general information and not detailed facts upon which 
estimates can be based. It is importaut to take out the sums which 
have actually been expended along this line, and to ascertain how 
much more work should be done to delinitely discuss tlie subject of 
watei' conservation; in other \voi"ds, in making surveys on which to 
1)ase (>stimates. 

As liefore stated, the api^ropriations made up to the ju'esent time 
for matters pei'taining to irrigation have been available for what may 
lie called conclusive results to only a limited extent. The general 
topogi'aphic sur\'eys of the catchment basins of the sti-eams and the 
measurement of the tlow form the liasis of knowledge, l)ut in them- 
selves they are not sufficient for jireparing the estimates of costs and 
benefits. Out of the first appropriation for surveys (that of 1888-1890, 
'^o5(),0<)0) about ^100, 00() was expeude<l in examining 147 reservoir 
sites and in preparing estimates and details foi' the following reclama- 
tion projects: In Montana, on Sun Ri\'er: in Colorado, on Arkansas 
Ri\er; in Kansas, foi- a large ca*nal line in the western part of tlie 
Stale: in Texas and Xew Mexico, for the jn'oposed international 
reservoir above El I'aso: in California, foi* a reservoir at Clear Lake, 



AKID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 53 

for exploring Pit River, and for a number of localities in the liigli 
sierras; in Nevada and California, for water storage on Truekee and 
Carson rivers; in Utah, for the storage of water in Utah Lake; and 
in Idaho, for the diversion of Snake River. The total expenditure on 
these engineering surveys — in round numbers, •tlO(),000 — was approx- 
imately $10,000 for each of the large projects studied. The remain- 
der of the $:350,000 was expended in preparing topographic maps. 
Approximateh' 4o,000 square miles of important river basin were 
mapped, the estimated cost being not far from ^5 per square mile 
surveyed, including all salaries and office expenditures. 

Since 1890 only a few detailed estimates have been prepared, these 
being iDOSsi])le under the appropriation for preparing reports upon 
the best methods for utilizing the water resourct'S. The possibility 
of water storage on Gila River in Arizona has been carefully dis- 
cussed; also conservation projects in portions of California, Nevada, 
Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado, as already mentioned. (See pp. 
27— "30. ) The amount thus expended in engineering survej^s is rela- 
tively small, and must be notably increased before a complete knowl- 
edge of the cost of reclamation can be had, with detailed figures as 
to each important project. 

To complete the examination of this vast area in ten j'ears will 
necessitate an annual expenditure of, say, !:'10,000 a year in each of 
the States and Territories having arid and semiarid lands. This 
amount will make possible systematic measurements of the streams, 
survey of reservoir sites, examination of the character of the founda- 
tions of dam sites from which to estimate the cost of the construction 
of dams, and carry on other examinations exclusive of the topo- 
graphic mapping. An appropriation of '15200,000 a year is needed to 
push forward this work, including the measurement of streams and 
the examination and nuipping of underground waters and artesian 
wells. 

The estimates made for continuing this work during the next fiscal 
year are as follows: 

SPECIAL SURVEYS IX ARID AND SEMIARID UEGIOXS. 

Arizona: 

Surveying reservoir sites, determining amount of water in Gila and 
Salt rivers, including Santa Cruz River, and investigating artesian 

conditions . $(5, 000 

California: 

Northern — Survej'S of reservoir sites on head waters of Kings. Kern, 

and San Joaquin rivers - .- .. - . . 10,000 

Examination and mappinu' of underground waters in San Joaquin 

Valley "^ .. 5.000 

Southern— Examination and mapping of underground waters in San 

Bernardino Valley _ , _ . .,_... . . _ . ^ . 5, 000 

Examination of country adjacent to Colorado River and estimates 
of cost of utilizing Colorado River by pumping or bv gravity 

canals " 11,000 

Colorado: 

Surveys of reservoir sites on head waters of Platte River 4, 000 

Examination of feasibility of storing water in northeastern Colorado, o, 000 
Examination of reservoir sites on Arkansas River and Rio Grande. . . 8, 000 
Reconnaissance for diversion of Gunnison River in southwestern Col- 
orado . 5. 000 

Examination of underground waters and drilling test well in eastern 

Colorado _.. ... 10,000 

Idaho: 

Survey for diversions of water from Snake River and obtaining under- 
ground waters on Snake River plains . . . . - 5,000 

Examination of reservoir sites on head waters of Boise, Weiser, and 

Payette and Lost rivers of Idaho 4, 000 



54 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Kansas: 

Drilling test well in northwestern Kansas 10. 000 

Montana: 

Continuation of the St. Mary River surveys 7, 000 

Continuation of the Madison River-Helena survey _ 5, 000 

Surveys for diversion of water from Yellowstone River 11, 000 

Nebraska: 

Drilling test well in western Nebraska 10, 000 

Nevada: 

Continuation of reservoir surveys on Carson and Walker rivers 9,000 

New Mexico: 

Survey of reservoir sites on Rio Grande _ . . 6. 000 

North Dakota: 

Continuation of mapping of underground waters and survey of canal 

line from Missoiu'i River 10.000 

Oregon: 

Continuation of examination of deep waters in northwestern Oregon. 4, 000 

Exploration for reservoir sites on head waters of Owyhee and Malheur 

rivers _. 5,000 

South Dakota: 

Investigation of deep waters in western part of State: drilling test well 10, 000 
Texas: 

Surveys for water storage in trans-Pecos Texas 5, 000 

Utah: 

Surveys of reservoir sites on Sevier River 4, Ov)0 

Examination of head waters of Provo and Weber rivers - 3, 000 

Reconnaissance for diversion of Grand and Green rivers in southeast- 
ern Utah. -. _ 5,000 

Washington: 

Surveys of reservoir sites on head waters of Yakima River and tribu- 
taries _ . . . . . 6. 000 

Examination of artesian conditions of central Washington 4. 000 

Wyoming: 

Surveys for storage and diversion of Green River and tributaries 6. 000 

Surveys for conservation of water on North Platte River . 4. 000 

Total for special surveys in arid regions. 200, 000 

III e.stiniatiiig-tlie e(ist of reclamation of the lands of tlie arid regions, 
a wide latilnde is possible, since, as before stated, we do not possess 
detailed estimates of the cost of eacli large project. It is necessary, 
therefore, to fall back upon a general knowh^dge, sncli as tliat which 
has been obtained by the reconuoissances, topograpliic mapping, and 
stream gagings just descril)ed. ]>y nuvms of these, certain l)roact facts 
have been developed; bnt these nmst l)e supplemented by the detaik^d 
engineering surveys before exact and unqualified statements can be 
made. 

Tlie largest uncertain factor in the question of reclamation is the 
amount of water which can be rendered available tlirough storage in 
the ground, through seepage or percohition, and which will ultimately, 
after many montlis or years, find its way into the drainage channels, 
or rise to a j)oint where it can be recovered by ordinary wells. The 
question, also, of the practicability of recovery by wells rests upon 
the cost of power. With complete water conservation in the moun- 
tains, cheap power becomes available tlirougli electrical transmis.sion 
by which to recover this water otherwise lost. Judging from the 
experience of the developed areas of tlie arid region, it may be esti- 
mated that if water is conserved for the direct reclamation of, say, 
1,000,000 acres, there will be possible an ultimate reclamation of 
3,000,000 acres, tlirough seepage works, pumping i)lants, and other 
devices erected by individuals. In other words, if the Government, 
hy means of large storage works or by diverting Avater from great 
rivers by means of tunnels or other hydraulic works, should provide 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 55 

water for 25,000,(iO() acres Avhieh otherwise could not be irrigated, it 
would render possible the gradual utilization of the entire 75,000,000 
acres, the remainder being reclaimable through the smaller or indi- 
vidual systems. 

The area of land reclaimable if water could be had amounts to sev- 
eral hundred million acres, but the supply of water being limited, the 
amount whicli can actually be reclaimed depends directly upon the 
water resources. These, though fluctuating from year to year, are fixed 
])y nature within narrow limits, there being probably enough, when 
properlj^ conserved, to irrigate 75,000,000 acres. It is not necessary, as 
before noted, for the Government to conserve water for all of this area, 
as by the removal of certain great ol)stacles individual enterprises will 
be able to put water upon tlie greater part of the land. Thus, as 
above stated, it may be fair to assume that if the Government con- 
serves water for 25,000,000 acres, individuals or corporations will be 
able to obtain water for the remaining 50,000,000. 

The cost of water conservation, as shown l^y surveys in different 
parts of the United States, may range from less than 81 to over $10 per 
acre reclaimed. As an average, 85 per acre may be taken as the cost 
of reclamation in a large Avay. 

It is not necessary nor advisable to attempt to reclaim all of the 
land at once, but it is essential that certain steps be taken looking 
toward such action. It will be more economical to make small 
expenditures at fii'st and gradually increase these, so tliat in order to 
conserve the water supply expenditures shall extend throughout at 
least twenty-five years. These expenditures may best be made at the 
rate of, say, $2,000,000 per annum for five years; $4,000,000 per 
annum for the next five years; $5,000,000 per annum for the next five 
years, and 17,000,000 per annum for ten years additional, or, in all, 
$125,000,000. These amounts, it has been estimated, can be realized 
from the disposal of the pultlic lands. Ten per cent of these amounts 
will be needed for tlie surveys and examinations leading up to the 
construction of the reservoirs. 

With this amount iuAestcd l)y the Government in the removal of 
obstacles to development, it will be possible, as already stated, for 
private capital to invest amounts many times as great in putting the 
lands under irrigation. 

The cost of maintenance of permanent works will be relatival}' 
small, and following the precedent set by law and by custom the cost 
of maintenance should be assessed against the hinds receiving the 
water whenever the works are completed and the land passes com- 
pletely into private ownership. 

In regard to artesian- well explorations, I wish to bring out one point 
whicli Mr. Reeder has overlooked, and that is that this vast Plains 
area is unique in this respect. It is a country which belongs in great 
part to the United States. It is a country where people have attempted 
to make homes, where thousands of i^eople have l)een driven out by 
lack of water. The attempt to secure water by individual enterprise 
involves such a large expenditure relative to the value of the jiroperty 
of the people and to the large area of land owned by the United States 
that it differs from conditions of all other places wliei'e water has been 
searched for and proved to exist l>y private enterprise. The United 
States is the great land owner. The individuals have tried to get 
water and have failed, and have come almost to the point of actual 
starvation over a large part of this area for the want of it. 

The Chairman. In making your statement and report as to the 



56 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

amount of appropriations for irrig'ation of arid lands for tliese Depart- 
ments, could you also give us a summary of what has been accom- 
plished? 

Mr. Newell. Tliat I think could l>e done, although the facts are 
scattered through many volumes of pul)lic reports. In the matter of 
the Indian OfHce, where the large expenditures have ])een (nearly 
two-tliirds of the wliole), I doubt wliether there are any printed reports 
as to what has been done. 

The Chairman. We can probably hud out something from the In- 
dian Office. 

Mr. Newell. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Barham. What would the probability be — taking the average 
of what lias come into the Treasury — what would the probability be as 
to the amount of receipts from that same source in the future? 

Mr. Newell. So far as I can learn fi-om the Land Office, the re- 
ceipts for the next few years will be relatively as large. They luay 
run up to .t2,( )()(»,(»( 10; luit I think the receipts for the last fiscal year, 
ending. Tune :>(•, I'.mh), and annnintiiig to i^i\!So<),883, are considerably 
above tlui average, although the people in the Land Office do not 
seem to think there will be much diminution. 

The cash receipts of the General J>and ( )ffiee from disposal of ijublic 
lands are derixed mainly from commuted homestead, desert land, 
timbei" and stone land, mineral land, and coal land, in the order 
named. 

The total amount received on account of sales of pu1)lic lands 
decreased from about >5n,0(iO,()()() in isss to about •i5'.)(Ki,0(H) in 1S1)7, 
and has steadily increased since, until, at the close of the fiscal year 
ending .June :;<)", I'.IOO, the amount was nearly -153, 000, 000. 

This will prol);ilil>' eonlinue to increase for scn'eral years to come, 
owing to the new law known as the " l-^ree homes bill," the opening of 
ludian reservations to settlement, and for other reasons. 

Mr. Newlaxds. Do you not think that the entering upon a com- 
prehensive plan of reclaraation in the arid region will stimulate set- 
tlement in that region, and thereljy increase that income? 

Mr. Newell. Certainly. 

31]'. BARHA.M. What i^rovision is there for the sale of arid landV;' 

]Mr. Newell. There is a commut;ition of the homestead entry, tiieii 
there is the desert -land entry of ^i-JO acres, the mineral lands, tlie 
stone lands, and various pieces of land, wliicli, though small in them- 
selves, command a- considerable price. 

Mr. Barham. But as to arid lands: There is no provision for the 
sale of arid lands, and they are still o[)en to homestead and desert- 
land entry? 

Mr. Newlands. Is it not your opinion that unless within a few yeai's 
a system of reclamation is entered upon, the proceeds from tlie sale 
of Government lands will be greatly reduced? 

Mr. Newell. Yes, sir. When all the forest reserves necessary 
have l)een created, the receipts then will drop off very much. Just 
at this time there is consideral)le activity in the Land Office, which 
will undoubtedly cease. 

Mr. Newlaxds. Is not the large sum received during the last year 
from the sale of salt or mineral lands caused by the increased activity 
in mining in those States? 

Mr. Newell. Yes, sir, largely; but it is not to be charged to that 
wholly. 

Mr. Barham. Have you any comideted survey and estimate of the 
cost of reclamation of any section or watershed? 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 57 

Mr. Newell. Tliere is a notable one which we have completed, and 
in which great public interest is now centering' — that on the Gila River. 
That has just been before the Senate and a provision has been inserted 
in the Indian bill (II. R. 12004) beginning the construction, as follows: 

For completing the necessary preliminary investigations and plans and estimates 
of cost in detail for the construction ot a dam across the Gila River near San 
Carlos, Arizona, for storing the tlood waters of the Gila River, the water so stored 
to be used, first, for the benefit of the Pima. Papago, and Maricopa Indians for 
irrigating the lands of the Gila River Resei vat:on, the stored water in excess of 
the needs of the Indians to be used for reclaiming and irrigating vacant public 
lands: and also for a((juiriiig and prei)aring the dam site and for contniuing the 
measurement of the daily tiow of water in the Gila River, and for surveying and 
locating and preparing plans and estimates of cost of construction, with Indian 
labor, of the nectssary canals for carrying the water from said reservoir to the 
lands to be irrigated on the said Indian reservation, and investigating the amount 
of water necessary to be reserved for the use of the said Indians, and for examin- 
ing, surveying, and designating the vacant public lands which could be irrig;,ted 
with the stored water from said reservoir in excissof the needs of the Indians, 
and in preparing the plans and estimates for the construction of said reservoirs 
and canals, with detail* d reasons therefor, and giving as accurate an estimate as 
possible of the total amount which could be received from the sale of the land 
irrigated to actual settlers, with the facts and circumstances upon which such 
estimate is based, the sum of one hundred thousand doLars. or so much thereof 
as maj' be necessary, the same to be expended under the direction of the Secretary 
of tiie Interior: I'niriiivd. 1 hat for all unskilled labor required Indians shall be 
employed so far as practicable. And the Secretaiy of the Interior is hereby 
directed to reserve from entry and settlement all unapprojiriated lands within 
townships three, four. five. six. and seven south, ranges eight, nine, and ten east of 
Gila and Salt River meridian, until the examination, survey, and designation of 
irrigable lands hereinbefore provided for shall have been completed; and upon the 
approval of snch survey and designation by the Secretary of the Interior the lands 
not designated as irrigalile shall be restored to entry and settlement. 

And the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed, out of the appro- 
priation immediately jtreceding, to catrse to be made by competent engineers an 
investigation and rep irt as to whether an adetjuate water supply for the Indians 
upon said reservation can be obtained by the method recommended by Indian 
Inspector Walker H. Graves, in his report dated Pima Indian Reservation, Arizona, 
September twelfth, nineteen hundred, and if so. at what cost: Provided. That 
nothing herein shall be construed as in any way committing the United States to 
the construction of said dam at San Car os. 

Mr. IjARHAM. Did vou estimate the cost of a s\steni of irrigation 
there? 

Mr. Xewell. We estimated the cost of water conservation. The 
distril)ution system was also estimated upon, but I do not include it 
because it is something which will take care of itself. ^I'he construc- 
tion is so comparatively easy that if the system is built the water can 
be disposed of, and the distribution necessarily follows. 

Mr. Barham. Have you any other completed system of surveys"? 

Mr. Newell. The other estimated systems are on the Humboldt in 
Nevada, the Truckee in Nevada, which offers interstate pi-oblems, 
and the diversion of the St. 31ary River to the Milk River, the survey 
of which is not fully completed. This is in northern ^Montana, the 
St. Mary River being a stream rising in the United States, in the 
Rocky Mountains, receiving the drainage from them and carrying it 
immediately north. East of it heads the Milk River, which flows 
for several hundred miles before emptying into the ^Missouri River, 
Milk River, although so long, does not receive enough water to sup- 
ply a continuous flow througli its whole length, at all seasons. By a 
relatively short diversion canal it is possible to take the water out 
of the St. Mary River and let it flow into the Milk River; in other 
words, to divert it before reaching the Canadian border, and turn it 
through Milk River, whose waters run finally into the (Tulf of Mexico. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. Have you any other completed system? 



58 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

What I am trying to get at is, Have yon anything that yon eoukl 
report at tlie next session of Congress? 

Mr. jSTevvell. We haveanninl)er of projects and estimates reported 
at this session, sneh as the Hunil)oklt and tlie Trnokee, and the King 
River and tlie Salinas River in California, the St. Mary in Montana, 
the Grey Bull in Wyoming. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. Then if we call for a complete survey or 
estimate, you can give it, of five or six of the separate problems? 

Mr. Newell. Yes, sir. 

The Chairman. AVhat would be the relative expense of carrying 
out Judge P.arham's bill (H. R. 13770)? 

Mr. 1)ARHAM. That simply calls for a special survey of everything 
necessary, including wells and reservoirs, and the diversion of streams. 

The Chairman. Your liill practically covers the whole scheme, and 
calls for information as to just how much of this work there is, and 
how much it will cost, and how much land in the Uiuted States, as I 
understand, can he irrigated successfully, and what will he the cost? 

Mr. Newell. That is as difficult to answer as it would be to say 
what will be the total cost of the rural free-delivery system, or of the 
river and liarbor improvements, the amount of the river and harbor 
bill; but to set some sort of a reasonable limit, I will say that an 
annual appropriation of $250,000 a year, continued for six or seven 
years, woidd doubtless cover the cost of survey of all of the feasible 
schemes. 

Mr. Barham. He does not mean by that that the (Government of the 
United States will irrigate the lands; that is simply for the surveys. 
That amount is safe to mention, but not without qualification. 

Mr. Kino. Would it be enough to make an appropriation of -^1,500,000 
now, to be expended b^^ the Geological Survey with peremptory instruc- 
tions in the bill, such as Congress ma}' give, that the Geological Sur- 
vey may enter upon a comprehensive survey of the arid lands owned 
l)y the Government of the United States, and, in order to speedily 
accomplish the work at the earliest possible date, to provide that the 
Department shall employ the best engineers ol>tainable, with a view 
to reporting, first, the number of acres susceptible of reclamation; 
second, the sources of water; and, third, the cost of constructing dams 
for diverting streams that you do not need to store; and also the con- 
struction of the necessary dams and canals which the Government, if 
it embarks upon the enterprise, should construct, submitting all that 
1o Congress. Don't you think it would be better lo make one large 
appropriation and enter upon this scheme in a comprehensive manner 
rather than to take it up in pieces immediately, without presenting to 
the people of the United States the scheme in all its fullness, and all 
of its benefits and disadvauiages, if there are any? 

Mr. Newell. That would be the most satisfactory and economical 
way — to provide an appropriation running over a consideral)le length 
of time. The great trouble with annual appropriations is the uncer- 
tainty of the future and the difficulty of starting surveys at once and 
getting the best men. With annual appropriations you can not assure 
them tiiat you can continue them at this woi'k for a reasonable length 
of time, or that the result will be accomplished. So that economy and 
elficiency would be promoted by an appropriation running over a length 
of two or three years. 

The Chairman. In other words, you think it would be desirable to 
have an appropriation fully covering U\e total cost of surveys, and 
then leave the Geological Survev a reasonable length of time. 



AEID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 59 

Mr. Newell. Yes, sir. If you consider any large corporation or 
organization which is endeavoring to ascertain what they can do in 
sncli matters, they never try to rush through, hut take plenty of time 
to mature the matter thoroughly. In the matter of the Croton dam, 
ten years were spent in making and discussing the plans and in ascer- 
taining what methods were feasible. In the matter of the large dam for 
the municipality of Boston, years were spent in completing plans. In 
hydraulic works more than in any other enterprises great care and fore- 
thought must be exercised, for there is not the oppoi'tunity of repair- 
ing mistakes that there is in railroad construction or in anything else 
of that kind. If you make a mistake it must be paid for by future 
generations, either in life or in property. So that evei'y large enter- 
prise in the way of hydraulic work must be entered upon with reason- 
able deliberation, as is sliown by the instances of all successful works 
of that sort. 

Mr. Barham. Tlien let tliis committee, which is not an appropria- 
tions committee — let it authorize — and that is within its Jurisdiction — 
a complete system of surveys. Let us authorize the work the same as 
is done in the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee and all 
the other committees interested in appropriations — the Rivers and 
Harbors Committee and all the others — and let us authorize it here; 
and do not let us say anything about an appropriation, but say "An 
examination is hereby authorized, not to exceed in cost $2,000,000 
or $3,000,000" — whatever you think is going to cover the cost — say 
nothing about an appropriation. There is an authorization. Then 
the Appropriations Committee will call you in to ascertain how much 
you need next year for surveys— *50,000, -$250,000, ^500,000, or what- 
ever you need.' From year to year you will appear before this com- 
mittee just as you would do in regard to light-houses or those other 
things, in order to state what you can judiciously and properly use 
the next year in making surveys. And so you will commence at the 
foundation rock, and the whole system will be projierly worked out. 

Mr. Newell. Yes, sir. In March, ISss, a joint resolution was 
passed authorizing this work of wliich the chairman has spoken. "We 
have gradually built up the work along those lines. The first year of 
which I spoke the appropriation was 812,500; the next year it was 
§2-l:,000; the next year $50,000, and the present year it is 8100,000. 
And we are building up along those lines as rapidly as we can develop 
good men and good methods and do it economically. Now, I under- 
stand the irrigation association desire that this amount be increased 
to $250,000. \Yhenever the work is placed on such a l)asis, we will be 
able to push forward along the lines suggested and ah-eady embodied 
in the law. This is simply a question of getting sufficient funds to 
cover the great area afTected by your action, which is an area larger 
than all civilized ICurope. 

A part of any such investigation involves the examination of under- 
ground waters, extending under an area of the Great Plains which is 
larger than that of France. Part of it involves the examination of 
reservoir sites, each of which is larger than that constructed by the 
city of New York or Boston, and upon which a number of years were 
spent in surveys. We do not propose to do it as tliorcmghly as 
that, but we do propose to do it thoroughly enough to stand adverse 
criticism. 

The next step, if the Government is to do anything further than it 
has done, is to take up one of these projects, such as the San Carlos 
dam, and decide whether it is to be built or not. 



60 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Mr. Sutherland. Would we not need necessavily to have the infor- 
mation tii'st, before Congress would authorize it or anything' else? 

Mr. Reeder. It seems to me tliat we have alreadj^ been four years 
right along that line, of finding out what we can do. Now, the propo- 
sition is to i3ut in one of these dams and find out what is ijracticable, 
and then to continue right along that line. 

Mr. Newlands. While you are getting practical results, do you 
tliink it is wise to have these large appropriations for a series of years, 
or to appioi)riate immediately for the construction of a few of those 
enterprises for which tlie plans have already been made, and to con- 
duct also continuous investigations^ 

Mr. Newell. Yes, sir. It seems to me we can take some one or 
more of tliese enterprises, the plans for which are available, which 
apparently would yield the largest results. 

Mr. Newlands. Witli reference to these plans, it is suggested that 
the funds from the arid and semiarid States should be segregated, and 
a special fund should be created in the Treasury to be devoted to the 
work of irrigation and investigation. I would ask you whether the 
Geological Survey is ready to go ahead with both of these methods 
with practical results? 

Mr. Newell. Yes; we have a body of trained and skilled young 
men who have had experience in investigation and construction, and 
if the money was available for an}' one of these projects, the work 
would be started at once. At the same time I tliink it would be l)etter 
to have the investigation continue as it has been, an item in tlie 
sundry civil bill, and devote the reclaiuation fund to the work of con- 
struction. We have arrived at tliis condition where Congress is up 
against the necessity for doing something. There is no longer any 
need of delay for further information regarding certain specitic proj- 
ects, for we Ih'ive a number of those whicli are well matured and con- 
sidered and can ])e entered upon to-day. 

Mr. IJarham. Do you sujjpose that the other arid-land States and 
the other States in the Union are going to permit California to carry 
out one of these projects and knowing that tli.ere is no comprehensive 
sj'stem — everyV)od3' knows that tliis can l)e done; there is no question 
about it — but the question is, how mucli is the whole thing going to 
cost? You can not answer that, and nobody else can. 

Mr. Newlands. Su^ipose when the hrst river and harbor improve- 
ment was proposed that that question had been raised. We want a 
comprehensive system of improvements here, of course. Three hun- 
dred and t wenty million dollars have been spent on rivers and harboi's. 
Suppose that when the improvement of our rivers and harbors was 
first suggested the statement had been made that those improvements 
would mount up to such a sum ; it would have appalled the imagination. 

Mr. Wilson. Canal building alone has cost over 8300, 000, 0(X\ 

Mr. Newlands. Yes; and that sum would have l>een regarded as 
prohibitory of the whole plan. 

Mr. Barham. There is a lot of water t hat can be used yet? 

Mr. Newell. Yes, sir. That limits it in one respect. The private 
capital which can be put into this development will make possible an 
immense amount of construction which is now impossible. 

Mr. Barham. On the bill of Mr. Newlands we are legislating in 
advance of conditions. That is my judgment on that matter. We 
should first have all the facts before we undertake to legislate. In the 
very nature of things, before you have a completed project the Con- 
gress of the United States is not going to enter upon the irrigation of 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES, 61 

the arid lands. We do not have to have them all in; tliat is not the 
purpose. But we are going to give the people of the United States 
the understanding that we are to irrigate all the arid lands that can 
be irrigated. We are going to enter upon a comprehensive system; 
we are not going into California because there is a little place there 
that can be irrigated, or into Nevada or some other State, but we are 
going to irrigate all the arid region, and it will take one hundred and 
fifty years to do it. 

Mr. Newell. It seems to me that is comparable to saying that we 
should not improve New York Harbor before we know just how much 
every other harbor on the Atlantic coast is going to cost. 

Mr. Barham. That is not the question, but we want the people of 
the United States to understand that we are going to enter upon a 
comprehensive system ; that we are not going simply into any one little 
project vSiu'h as that in California. 

Mr. Newell. Is it not understood that if we create a reclamation 
fund and devote it to projects in first one and then another section, 
would not it carry with it the conclusion that the fund is available for 
all? 

STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK W. MONDELL, A REPRESENTATIVE 
IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING. 

Mr. Mondell. I thank you very much, gentlemen, for giving me 
the opportunity to discuss the matter of reclamation of arid lands 
before the committee for a few moments. I want to discuss the sub- 
ject from two standpoints, or along two lines; first, with regard to 
the general plan or system to be adopted, or Avhich may be adopted, 
and second, with regard to the bill I have introduced, and which is 
before the committee, and is as follows: 

[H. R. 1411)'), Fifty-sixth Congress, second session.] 

A BILL Dedicating the proceeds of the sales of public lands to the construction of works in the 
aid of irrigation, and for other purposes. 

Be it ouicfed by the Senate aiul House of Representatives of the United States of 
Ameriea in Congress assevit)]ed. That from and after the passage of this Act the 
proceeds from the sales of public lands, except such as are set aside by law for 
educational purposes, shall be used, under the direction of the Secretary of the 
Interior, for the survey and construction of storage reservoirs, diversion and 
other hydraulic works in the arid and seraiarid regions, for the purpose of devel- 
oping and making available the waters that now run to waste, for use in the irri- 
gation and reclamation of arid lands. 

Sec. 2. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to make such 
surveys and examinations as may be necessary to determine the necessity for, and 
the practicability of, the construction of works for the purjjoses mentioned in 
section one, and may, upon such determination, after proper public notice, let con- 
tracts for the construction of the same; hvLt no contract shall be entered into 
unless there shall be funds available as provided in section one. and no contract 
shall be entered into for any project the cost of which, when complete, shall 
exceed five hundred thousand dollars, without authority of Congress. 

Sec. o. That from and after the beginning of the survey of any project herein 
provided for. all entries made of public lands on which such project may be 
located, or which may be required for the construction and maintenanre of such 
project, shall be subject to such use for the period of two years, at the expiration of 
which time such lands shall become subject to the entries aforesaid, unless in the 
meantime permanently reserved by law for the purposes aforementioned. That 
all filings, entries, and locations of land, desert in character, made after the tender 
for bids on any projects above referred to, and determined by the Secretary of 



62 AKIl) LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the Interioi' to be irriji,iib'.e from the waters thereby rendered available, and from 
no other source, shall be sub;e;^-t to the requirements of the desert-land laws. 

Skc. 4. Tliat no contract shall be let for any of the works hereinbefore provided 
until the Secretary of the Interior shall have determined to his satisfaction that 
the State within which such works are to be constructed has provided an ade- 
([uate system o' laws for the i)ublic contro' of strenms and the just and final 
deterinination of riLjlits to water tliHrefroni, which make iieneficial use the basis, 
the measure, and the limit of the right, and administrative officers necessary to 
insure the delivery of the water rendered available to tho.->e entitled thereto. 

The irriyatioii coiiii'i-css, of wliicli yoii nil know, miuI which lias held 
aiimuil sessions for many years, after a- long discussion of the subject 
as to wlial' 1'lu^ C'ongi'ess of the Uinted States would be asked to do by 
that congress, finally, in their platform last fall, decided to confine 
tlieir request to Congress to the subject of storage aiul conservation 
of waters. They adopted as tlieir motto " Sa\'(^ the forests and store 
the floods." Their resolutions were V(U'y brief. I was chaii'inan of 
the subcommittee which di-aftod them; they were unanimously adopted, 
and are as follows: 

We hail with satisfaction the fact that both the great political parties of the 
nation in the last campaign declared m favor of the reclamation of arid America 
in order that settlers might bui'd homes on the public douiam, and to that end 
we urge ui)on Congre-ss tliat national api)ropriations commensurate with the 
magnitude of the problem should be made for th(3 i)reservation of thi' forests and 
the reforestation of denuded areas as national storage reservoirs, and for the con- 
struction by the National (rovernment as part of its policy of internal improve- 
ment of storage reservoirs and other works for flood protection, and to save for 
use in aid of navigatiitn and irrigation the waters which now run to waste, and 
for the development of artesian and subterranean sources of water supply. 

The water of all streams should forever remain subject to public control, and 
the right of use of water for irrigation should inhere in the land irrigated, and 
beneficial use be the basis of measure and limit of the right. 

Now, the (juestion of the irrigation of the arid lauds of the United 
States, as we all appr(M*iate, is a very large question. Beginning at 
the l)eginning and going through the whole i)rocess, down to where 
we convey water to all the lands that can be irrigated in the United 
States at a reasonable cost, is covering an enormous territory, in fact 
and in pointi of ex])enditure. Clearly, the diversion of the smaller 
streams which (low near the surface of the surrounding country and 
the (list ril)nt ion of their waters over lands for their iri'igation is not a 
public woi-k, it seems to me. The question then arises, Wliati portion 
of the work to be done in connection with the reclamation of arid 
lands is national work? What i)art of the work may the (-government 
undertake- — constitutionally uiKlertakey Although 1 am not a consti- 
tutional lawyer and do not pretend to be an authority on the Consti- 
tution in this particular, I am very positive in the opiinon tliat the 
Constitution of llu; United Stales does not give ns any authority to 
actually irrigate land or peddle watei-. IJut there is a work in con- 
nection with the reclamation of arid lands which, in my opinion, is a 
national work. What, then, is the line of demarcation between the 
work which the National Government should undertake and the work 
which should be left to the States, associations under the Stales, or 
to indiNiduals? It seems to me the line of demarcation is whei-e stor- 
age and conservation, including the <liversion of large streams, ends 
and the actual disl-ribution of water over lands bc^gins, and that the 
work of conserving the watei's of the United States, of making them 
available, so that the State, the corporation under the State, the indi- 
vidual, or the association of farmei-s may take up the work of actual 
reclamation — that that work is a national work. 

Ml'. KiNc;. Do you see any distinction 1)etween the power of the 



AKID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 63 

Goverumeut to store and build a reservoir and to put in a large dam 
in Snake River, for instance, in Idaho, which is essential for the irri- 
gation and reclamation of a vast territory? Is there any difference 
between having a dam to store flood waters and building a dam in a 
great river which is necessary for and which will insure the reclama- 
tion of extensive tracts contiguous to it? 

Mr. MONDELL. I do not think there is a very great difference. 
Understand me, that when I refer to conservation I do not consider 
that conservation is fully carried out by the construction of storage 
reservoirs. There is a diversion which is a conservation. The con- 
struction of an enormously extended canal, taking the water out of a 
deej) canyon and carrying it up to the level of the oi^en country, is a 
work of conservation. It is a work of conservation because the length 
of the canal itself is a storage reservoir and also because the individual 
or the association of individuals under the State takes up the work at 
the end of the main canal, and the use by the individual completes the 
conservation of water. Now, we And when we go before Congress and 
advise reclamation, they say: "What is this scheme which you ask 
us to enter upon?" 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. In regard to Mr. King's question, suppose 
you take the Snake River in Idaho, which flows through a deep box 
canyon for a long distance, so that it is practically impossible to get 
it out of that canyon to utilize in irrigation, and suppose the Govern- 
ment, say, should go there and dig and construct a reservoir there to 
raise the water to a point where it could be diverted and used ; that 
would be, under your idea, properly under the head of conservation? 

Mr. MoNDELL. I should say so, and a national work. The mem- 
bers of Congress say to us, when we come before them in discussion 
of these matters and ask for appropriations, "What do you propose 
to do, and how far do you ask the Government to go ; to what extent 
do you expect Government expenditures to be made for the recla- 
mation of arid lands? " They say to us that there is no good reason 
why the Government should actually reclaim lands that are barren 
any more than it should actually drain lands that are wet, and their 
contention is sound. There is no stronger reason why the Govern- 
ment should supply water upon lands, except as the lands may belong 
to the Government, and the Government can enter upon the scheme 
with the idea of disposing of those lands — should irrigate dry lands — 
than that it should fertilize barren lands. But when you say that it 
is not our intent and purpose that the Government of the United States 
shall irrigate the lands, but that the Government shall enter upon the 
truly national work of making waters available so that private enter- 
prise can place it upon the lands, then to a very considerable extent 
you eliminate their objection. The Government, in the case of a har- 
bor which is absolutely useless and worthless because of a bar across 
its mouth, dredges the bar and makes the harbor available. 

Mr. Sutherland. What does the National Irrigation Congress 
believe should be done on the point you. suggest; do they not think 
that we should go further than storing the water, or have they ex- 
pressed themselves upon that? 

Mr. MoNDELL. I will say that there are some members of that asso- 
ciation that think the Government might go further, but it was the 
consensus of opinion of that convention that that was as far as they 
could unitedly defend their proposition to Congress, and as far as the 
National Government would jarobably ever go, although there were 
some members in that Congress who would appreciate it if the Govern- 



(U AKID LANDS OF THP: UNITED STATES. 

nieut would still go further. To illustrate the point I wish to make, 
in river and harbor work the Government takes a great stream run- 
ning through several States, with stretches of navigable water, but 
with bars and shoals l)etween those stretches, and it dredges the mouth 
of the river and the l>ars and the shoals and makes it available for the 
purpose of navigation for which nature intended it. It does not make 
a river out of dry land, l3ut simply perfects nature's work. Now, that 
is national work. I believe it is likewise a national work for the 
(Tovernment to perfect the work of nature in the arid regions by mak- 
ing available tor irrigation every drop of water in those regions. 

Mr. Newlands. You contend for that entirely apart from the Gov- 
ernment's owership of the adjoining lands? 

Mr. MoNDELL. Yes, sir; entirely without any reference to the Gov- 
ernment own(M'ship of the adjoining lands. Of course, the fact that 
the Government owns the greater portion of the land in the regions 
where we propose to conserve this water is a very strong argument, 
an exceedingly strong argument, in fa^'or of this work. The fact that 
the Government has" 550,000,000 acres of land which, under present 
conditions are largely barren, which can not be thickly settled, is the 
strongest kind of an argument in favor of the Government assisting 
in making it possible to irrigate those of these lands which are irri- 
gable and thus make all the lands more valuable. But beyond that 
tlic ({overiiment owes it to its own development, extension, and growth 
in population and wealth to see that a region now barren is made 
fruitful, not altogether by the Government's expenditure, but largely 
by the expenditure of the individual after the (TOvernment has made 
expenditure in irrigation development possible by making the waters 
availal^le. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. Is it not a fact in history tliat every nation 
having arid lands in its domain, except the United States, has in a 
national way aided in their reclamation in some way or other? 

Mr. MONDELL. I think that is true, but I think that largely the 
work of the governments has been work of the character I now refer 
to and not the actual work of diversion and reclamation. Now, as to 
cost, we coine before Congress and they say, "How much will it cost, 
and how far are >-ou going?" If we can say that we propose to enter 
upon a system of conservation to make availaljle by the construction 
of storag:e reservoirs and the diversion of large streams all the water 
that now runs to waste, there is a limit placed, and a tangible limit 
placed, to the Government's expenditures. Then they say, "How 
mu(di will it cost?" It is difficult to say how much it will cost, but 
some reasonable estimate can be mad(\ If you stop at storage and 
large stream diversion it is not a difficult matter. I think that Mr. 
Newell will bear me out that it is possible to make a very fair guess 
as to what a comprehensive system of storage Avill cost in the United 
States. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. In that connection it is estimated that about 
75,000,000 aci'es remain yet to be irrigated. Of course that is a rough 
estimate, p(M-hai)s 25,000,000 acres one way or the other. It is a vast 
acreage, howevei'. I know in my State in particular a good many 
millicms (»f acres can yet be irrigated from the streams without any 
storage, so that when Ave estimate what it will cost in order to irrigate 
75,000,000 acres we should deduct the amount that the streams placed 
there by nature will yet irrigate ])efore the necessity arises for con- 
suming that which we will provide. 

Mr. IMoxDELL. T am ulad vou meni ioued that. To take the area in 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 65 

the arid region susceptible of irrigation as a basis and estimate the 
cost of conservation of a snftieient quantity of M'ater to irrigate such 
an area is to phice the cost of the work which the Government should 
undertake altogetlier too high. Even if it were necessary to aid in 
the reclamation of every acre susceptible of irrigaticm and remaining 
unirrigated in the arid region by storage, it would not ]>e necessary to 
store a sufficient amount of water for their complete irrigation, for in 
all properly developed systems much water is made available besides 
the water stored; the stored waters being used simply to supply the 
deficiency of the waning stream in the latter part of the crop season. 
Then there are the large diversions in which the work of the National 
Government should only extend to carrying the water to a point wliere 
it will be available for distribution by private enterprise. These 
diversions would be very cheap compared with the ann)unt of water 
made available for irrigation purposes. 

In addition to tliat, as Mr. Wilson ver}' properl^^ states, there is a 
considerable area yet remaining in some portions of the arid region 
that may be developed by j)rivate enterprise without any Federal aid 
either in div<n'sion or conservation. These areas are distant from 
lines of communication and in regions where there has not been much 
demand for irrigated products, and their development will come 
slowly; but the fact that there are such areas does not in any degree 
abate the necessity for Federal aid in those regions where private 
enterprise has now reached the limit of irrigation development. 

Mr. Newlands. And there is a great deal tliat can be irrigated by 
the flood water. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. There are hundreds of thousands of acres 
irrigated by the Snake River, and yet it is impossible to notice that 
the volume of that river has been decreased to any appreciable extent. 
I imagine there are hundreds of thousands of acres — and perhaps a 
million acres — on that stream that can be irrigated. 

Mr. MoNDELL. I am sjieaking of the question in a large way when 
I say we are not as yet to the limit of the development in certain 
regions b}^ State and private enterprise. In my State irrigation devel- 
opment is going on quite steadily. We have laws. State and national, 
under which ordinary diversion and distribution, in my opinion, can 
be taken care of. For instance, in addition to the laws under which 
small associations of farmers take out a canal from a small stream 
and irrigate their joint holdings, we have the law of Congress known 
as the Carey Act, which has been much misunderstood. Under that 
.act enterprises can be undertaken which individuals and small asso- 
ciations of farmers could never undertake. The efficiency of the act 
depends upon State legislation. In my State, the home of the man 
whose name the act bears, we were early to take advantage of the act, 
and we are to-day engaged in the work of diverting large streams. 
We have one enterprise in my State whereby we will irrigate 85,000 
acres of land and others in contemplation whereby there will be irri- 
gated more than 150,000 acres of land. These tracts will be irrigated 
without storage.^ 

STATE DESERT-LAND SECiREGATIOXS. 

By section 4 of the act of August 18, 1894 {28 Stat. L., 372-4'23), provision is 
made for the donation, to each of the States in which there may be situated desert 

' Extract from the Annual Report of the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office for the year ending June 30, 1900: 

lllOG— 01 5 



()6 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

lands, of not more than 1,000,000 acres of such land as the State may cause to be 
irrigated, reclaimed, occupied, and cultivated by actual settlers. This act has 
been amended by a provision in the act of June 11, 1896 (2U Stat. L., 418-434), to 
the effect that a lien is authorized to be created by the State upon the lands segre- 
gated, and that when an ample supply of water is actually furnished to any tract 
or tracts thereof patent shall issue to the State for the same, without regard to 
settlement or cultivation. 

During the year two lists have been filed by the State of Idaho, one list by the 
State of Montana, anil one by the State of Wyoming. Several lists previously 
received have been refiled during the year. All of these lists have been duly acted 
upon. One list filed by the State of Idaho, aggregating 54.005.92 acres, was 
approved. The State of Wyoming filed two lists of lands for patent, which have 
been duly acted upon, and one patent for 3,S55.25 acres of the same has been 
issued. 

Mr. Newlands. Nevada has never been able to do anything under 
the Carey Act. We have absolutely reached the limit of diversion. 
We divert all the water flowing into the river during tlie period of 
drought, and that is the limit of cultivation. 

Mr. MOXDELL. I am not fully informed as to conditions in Nevada, 
but, having had some experience of the workings of the Carey Act, I 
believe it is applicable to diversions of considerable size and to the 
distribution of water over considerable areas, where the initial cost is 
entii-ely beyond private enterprise and the law embodies the essential 
feature that lands must be irrigated, cultivated, and settled in small 
tracts. 

Mr. Newlands. In Nevada v^^e can not get along without storing; 
that is the essential thing for anj^ further reclamation. 

Mr. MoNDELL. That merely accentuates the fact that conditions 
vary in the arid region; we also have reached the limit of develop- 
ment without storage in som<^ parts of Wyoming. 

Mr. Barham. It applies directly to the proposition you are going to 
make. 

Mr. MoxDELL. Yes, sir; it accentuates the fact that conservation is 
a national work and ordinary diversion and distribution is a local 
work, and the two classes of entei'prise .should never be confused or 
confounded. The United States Government should undertake the 
one and the States and individuals and associations should under- 
take the oth(M'. 

Mr. AViLSOX, of Idaho. Storage alone would not cost more than half 
as much as storage and distribution paid by the local governments. 

Mr, MoxDELL. Yes; and I want to say that when you enter upon 
the question of the cost of actually contlucting water upon the lands 
and fully irrigating arid America you are entering a calculation that 
is beyond possibility' of present comisutation; 75,000,000 acres of land 
in these United States, now susceptible of irrigation, in my opinion 
will never lie irrigated in their entirety without the expenditure of at 
least 120 an acre; but the principal jDortion of this expenditure will, 
of course, be by private enterprise. The work of making available 
for use l)y private enterprise the water not now available would cost 
but a fraction of the total cost of the reclamation of the lands by 
irrigation. 

The Chairmax. Supposing that could be done now, at once, and 
75,000,000 acres that are now arid and nonproductive could be made 
productive by the expenditure of a very large sum of monej^, what 
would be the effect on agricultural products? 

Mr. MoxDELL. I will sa,y, upon that question, that it is one that 
opens a very wide field for discussion, and it is scarcely worthy of 
discussion, for the reason that if the Government of the United 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 67 

States should make appropriations of $5,000,000 for irrigation, we 
could not use that amount for a number of years, economically. 
Reclamation must necessarily be slow, and through whatever agency 
it comes, it will never come as rapidly as the increasing demand for 
products in this country comes, b}' reason of the increase of our 
Ijopulatiou. 

Mr. Newlands. It can not increase as rapidly as the population of 
Nebraska, and Kansas, and the Dakotas under the preemption laws, 

Mr. MONDELL. We disposed of more acres of land under the pre- 
emption and homestead laws alone in twelve years than the entire 
domain in the arid regions susceptible of irrigation, and practically 
ever^' acre of that ground would produce a good crop of wheat, corn, 
or cotton by simply turning it Avith a plow. We extended with that 
rapidity in the seventies and early eighties. Tliere is no possibility 
of rapid development in tlie arid regions, no matter how earnestly we 
press tliat development, and no matter how Federal appropriations 
may help us, there is no chance of our increasing the agricultural 
products as fast as the demand for those products increases. If, then, 
this committee shall decide — and this is the committee to make that 
decision — the work which it shall recommend to Congress shall be the 
work of conservation by the consti'uction of storage reservoirs, by diver- 
sion when diversion results in conservation, and when it is not diversion 
entirely foi" the purpose of carrj'ing waters directly upon the land — 
if this committee shall decide that this is to be their recommendation 
to Congress, then j'ou have clearly defined the scope of the work and 
limited the possibility of appropriation. 

The Chairman. I will ask you one or two questions on that point. 
Your argument on that policy is based on two or three grounds. One 
is that it would limit the scope of the work. Another is that the stor- 
age is a national and distribution a local work. Another still is, that 
the Constitution would warrant storage without any distribution. I 
do not understand very clearlj^ the difference between the last two 
questions. I am not sure that I know any distinct provision of the 
Constitution that would authorize us to store water that would not 
authorize to convey the water to public lands, at least. 

Mr. MoNDELL. I will say that I do not know of any distinct pro- 
vision of the Constitution which authorizes the General Government 
to make any expenditure directly or indirectly to encourage the irri- 
gation of the arid lands. I hope and believe there is a broad power 
in the General Government to do it. 

Mr. Barham. It can be done under the general-welfare clause. 

The Chairman. Yes; the provision that Congress shall pass all 
needful regulations for the government of the Territories and other 
"property" of the United States. But I am not able to see the dis- 
tinction between storing water and conveying it onto the lands where 
it is to be used. It must come undei' the general power of the United 
States, unless it comes under the general welfare, but I am not able 
to see the difference between storing the water and conveying it down 
through canals to the lands. 

Mr. MoNDELL. Tho-e is a vast difference, in my opinion. 

Mr. Newlands. Considering the constitutional question, I think 
we all agree that tliroughout tlie arid region the duty of the Govern- 
ment is discharged when it conserves the waters and leaves the dis- 
tribution to local individuals. 

Mr. Mondell. In speaking from a constituticmal standpoint, and 
speaking of the general policy, I think there is a wide difference — as 



68 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

wide as the poles. The conservation of the waters makes available 
for nse all lands which nature so placed that they can be irrigated 
from a stream ; makes possilile the nse of all the waters nature has 
provided for the irrigation of that land. The distribution of water, 
on the other hand, makes the water appurtenant to certain specific 
lands. The first class of work can only be carried out successfully 
through i^ublic agencies, and as it must be accomplished in order to make 
vast jireas of our country habitable by any consideralile population, 
the Government should undertake it in the interest of the general wel- 
fare. It does not interfere in any way with any law, rule, or regula- 
tion of the States relative to the use of water. 

The second class of work can be accomplished in most instances by 
private enterprise, and that puts it out of the category of public 
enterprise, if nothing else does. In the first instance, the National 
Government makes available tlie waters of the arid region as it 
makes available the navigalile waters of the humid region, and in 
doing so it does not interfere with individual enterprise in any partic- 
ular, or enter into conflict with laws or regulations of the States. But 
if you enter upon a plan of distribution of water by the General Gov- 
ernment and actual irrigation of specific lands, you do threaten 
national conflict with State water laws and discredit individual enter- 
prise which is engaged in the business of irrigation of lands. If the 
Government proposed to divert ordinary streams and carrj^ them 
upon lands and enter into the luisinessof selling the waters, you imme- 
diately invite conflict with State laws, put a damper upon evevy cor- 
jjoration and individual or association of farmers, l)ecause thej^ hang 
back, hoping that the Government will take up their particular plan, 
or fearful that the Government will take up their particular plan. It 
will retard the development of the arid lands, instead of encouraging 
development in the arid region, for the Government to enter upon the 
purely j)aternalistic work of distributing water and irrigating specific 
lands. 

Mr. Barham. Charging a rental? 

Mr. MONDELL. Yes, sir; charging a rental. 

The Chairman. Evidently I have succeeded in misunderstanding, 
or being misunderstood by, the gentleman from Wyoming. I would 
say that I see the advantage of the policy you advocate in regard to 
the storage. But I am inclined to think yon weaken your argument 
l)y bringing in the second point in regard to the Constitution, and I 
wanted to bring j'ou out on that point. 

Mr. MoNDELL. As a layman I should not have referred to the Con- 
stitution in the presence of constituticmal lawyers, and so I beg pardon 
for having done so. 

The Chairman. On the question of public policy, I have been very 
much interested in your argument. 

Mr. Newlands. You favor the storage of water by the Government? 

Mr. MONDELL. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Newlands. And your scheme of conservation does not consist, 
then, of merely impounding the waters, but also in carrying the waters 
to the point where private enterjjrise can commence, leaving distri- 
bution and reclamation to the enterprise of corporations and private 
individuals. 

Mr. Mondell. My idea is that the line which should be drawn is 
where the work of making water availal)le for use in irrigation ends 
and actual utilization of such water for the irrigation of specific tracts 
begins. Where the enterprise is beyond all ix)ssibility of individual 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 69 

constructiou and diversion results practically in conservation, then it 
is a part of a conservation selieine. 

Mr. Newlands. Now, as to the appropriations, it is your contention 
that an appropriation should be made just as river and harbor appro- 
priations should be made — without any view to compensation to the 
Government directly for the Avork done; is that so? 

Mr. MoNDELL. I was just coming to that jjoiut, and I Avill answer 
the question now. I am glad j^ou referred to it. My individual opin- 
ion, Mr. Chairman, is that the Government should never expect a dol- 
lar's return for its expenditures in the conservation of the flood waters 
of the country, any more than it now expects a return for the con- 
servation of waters in the protection of the forests in forest reserves, 
any more than it expects a return, although it makes enormously 
valuable the property of individuals, for dredging out rivers and 
harl^ors; that this work should be undertaken purelj^ as a national 
work for the development of the country. It does not make it a penny 
cheaper or easier to develop an arid waste to have the Government 
conserve the waters that now run to waste; it simply makes it possible 
for private enterprise to do so to utilize all the water which the 
Almighty has placed in the arid region. However, if it shall be the 
opinion of the committee and of the Congress Avheu they enter upon 
this work that the Government should in some instances — because 
the conditions Aary very greatly; the conditions of Nevada are very 
different from those in Wyoming — if it be the opinion of Congress 
that the Government should be partly or wholly reimbursed, then we 
come to the question of the method of reimbursement. In enterprises 
of conservation it is difficult to fix the charges as you could fix them 
if you were undertaking simply a work of distribution. Reservoirs, 
it has been demonstrated by practic(^ (and I think common sense would 
also lead us to that conclusion) should be used as works for the pur- 
pose of maintaining a uniform llow of water in a stream tliroughout the 
irrigation season. It is difficult to say just what effect the storage of 
water has on specific tracts along the sti-eam. It depends largel}'^ on 
the character of the country through which the stream flows, so that 
an attempt to attach water stored at the head of a perennial stream 
to a specific tract of land is not practicable, and it is not scientific, 
for the reason that any storage project not only makes available 
the water stored, but makes available an infinitely greater volume of 
water which is not stored. Here are some plats ilbistrating the flow 
of streams, prepared by JMr. Newell. This illustrates the flow of the 
stream. We will say tliat the irrigation season begins in May — just 
an illustration; it ends in August; now the amount of water available 
in that stream under present conditions is the minimum flow at the 
last of the irrigation season. All of the enormous volume occuring in 
the earlier floods runs to waste, because only the amount of water can 
be successfully used which flows during the entire irrigation season. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. That is subject to the exception of spring 
crops. 

Mr. MoNDELL. Yes; but I am spealving in a large way. There are 
regions where we simply flood grass lauds in the spring and get a fair 
crop. That is but a poor irrigation at the best. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. Yes; but in regard to the fruit crop? 

Mr. MoNDELL. Yes; that is an exception. Now it is simply neces- 
sary to reservoir a sufficient quantity of water at the head of a stream 
to reenforce the waning flow, and for every acre-foot of water you con- 
serve from 1 to 2 acre-feet is made available in addition. 



70 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Mr. Newlands. I quite agree with you that the effort should be to 
keep an equal and sustained flow in the river, and that it is not desir- 
able for tlie Government to go into the system of distribution, llow 
would you get compensationy 

Mr. MoNDELL. If tliere is to be a return of the expenditure it seems 
to me tliat while some return might be had from public lands bene- 
fited, the major part of the expenditure, if returned, should be secured 
from water benelits. 

Mr. Newlands. You would lix that charge upon the land or the 
ditches? 

Mr. MoNDELL, Ui)on those using the waters made available for use 
by the Government exjDenditure. 

Mr. Newlands. IIow would y(»ii measure it? 

Mr. MoNDELL. As you ordinarily measure water, by cubic feet per 
second. 

Mr. Newlands. You would make that charge so as to fully com- 
pensate in a period of years, or make it a peipetual water rigiit? 

Mr. MoNDELL. If it is thought that the Government should be reim- 
bursed, tlieu, of course, the amount charged against the users shouhl 
be proportionate to tlie amount used. It would be a mistake to make 
it a perpetual charge, because if there is any one thing that I am not 
in favor of, it is a perpetual charge for water by anjdjody — the Gov- 
ernment, a State, or companies. That, of course, is only a personal 
view; the right should be perpetual. 

Mr. Newlands. Gf the ways in whicli the Government can get com- 
pensation, one is to increase the price for the land while under recla 
mation through storage; another is through a sale of water riglits, 
and a third is a sale of the water itself, measuring it in cubic feet. 

Mr. Mondell. If it is to be a sale of water rights, the right sliould 
be expressed in cul)ie feet. 

Mr. Newlands. Which one do you reconimend? 

Mr. Mondell. The first plan would only l)e possible on a fair basis 
where all the lands to be benefited by i)ro.jects were, Government 
lands. I do not see how you can possibly arrive at it. It is a bad 
theory and impossible in practice. 

Mr. Barham. The first is what? 

Mr. Mondell. As I understand it, llie placing of a cliarge upon the 
Government land under a project higli enough to get back the money 
expended. 

Ml-. Newlands. No; with a view to determining what amount of 
land can be brought under reclanuition, and having ascertained the 
total amount, say 5(>,()0i> acres, fixing such a price per acre as will 
give you a compensatien in ten or twenty years. 

Mr. Mondell. ^Ye must remember that on many of the streams of 
the country more than the present average flow during tlie irrigation 
season has already l)een appropriated, and if we increase the average 
flow the increase will not all be used to iri-igate piiltlic lands, but will 
be, to some extent, used to irrigate land in })rivate ownership; and 
therefore it would seem that the return should come from those bene- 
fited, wliether using the waters to irrigate lands newly taken up 
under the land laws or the lands already in private control. Now, if 
the Government built reservoirs with a view to irrigating oidy new 
lands on a stream where there are now lands under private control 
partly irrigated, what would be the effect on the people whose lands 
are already under iriigation and who do not have enougli water now? 

Mr. Newlands. I am not contendinu' now that these waters should 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 71 

be applied to particular lands. I am suggesting how the Government 
shall receive compensation for the sum expended in storage, when- 
ever it can ascertain the additional number of acres which can be 
reclaimed, and put such a price on that land as will compensate the 
Government. Assuming that the Government is to be compensated, 
would you prefer that the laud x)rice should be raised, or that the 
compensation should be received from the actual sale of the water 
itself? 

Mr. MoNDELL. I would say, that except under projects where there 
is no present irrigation on the stream or land in private ownership, 
except in such a case it would be impossible to settle upon a scheme 
of land values that would be just as a basis of reimbursement; if the 
Government is to be reimbursed, it seems to me it must be by a charge 
for water rigiits. 

Mr. Barham. What kind of a bill do you think it would be best to 
/e? 

Mr. MoNDELL. I hope we may be able to secure a direct appropri- 
ation with which to begin the construction of at least one project. It 
seems that Congress is willing to give us thousands for investigation, 
but not a dollar for construction. It is against this policj^ of Congress 
that I chafe. If we can not secure consideration for a comprehensive 
plan, let us insist upon some i)i*ovision being attached to the river and 
harbor appropriation which will give us a start. We have the proj- 
ects in Colorado and Wyoming, which have l)een carefully surveyed 
and estimated by the War Department. 

Mr. King. Could you give us the status of the Gila River proiDO- 
sition? 

Mr. MoNDELL. That is a proposition on which we may have an 
opportunity to vote later, and my only regret in connection with it is 
that instead of providing 8100,000 for a further survey it does not 
appropriate $100,000 to survey and construct. We are constantly 
being asked, " IIow far are you going, and what do you intend to doV " 
To meet that query I have introduced a bill (II. R. 13847) which 
simply provides that the Geological Survey (I admit that I think we 
have had j^lent}" of surveys to begin with, but Congress does not agree 
with us in that direction) — that tlie Geological Survey shall proceed to 
make an investigation of the entire question of water conservation 
throughout the arid region, witli detailed investigation and survey 
and estimate of a project in each one of the arid and semiarid States; 
and if there is a locality where the Geological Survey thinks irriga- 
tion can l)etter be accomplished by artesian wells than by storage, I 
should recommend tliat they ascertain the limits of the artesian l>asins, 
and report fully to the next Congress on these matters so we may have 
a basis for future legislation. 

(Thereupon the committee adjourned, to meet ou Thursday, Feljru- 
iivy 7, at 10 o'clock a. m.) 



Washington, 1). C, February 7, 1001. 

The committee met at 10.15 o'clock a. m., Hon. Thomas II. Tongue 
in the chair. 

Present, in addition to the members of the committee, Hon. Francis 
G. Newlands, of Nevada; Hon. J. F. Wilson, of Arizona; Elwood Mead, 
irrigation expert of the Department of Agriculture, F. 11, Newell, 
hydrographer of the Geological Survey; George II. Maxwell, chairman 



i2 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of llie executive eonunittee of tlie National Irrigation Association, and 
Giiford Pincliot, chief forester of the Department of Agriculture. 

]\Ii-. Newlands. I suggest thai ^Ir. Pinchot make a statement regard- 
ing forest preservation as an essential part of any scheme of arid-land 
reclanmtion. 

STATEMENT OF GIFFORD PINCHOT, CHIEF FORESTER OF THE 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

Mr. I'hairman, tlie essential thing I want to say is that the policy of 
conser^ing water for irrigation by the Government was begun in the 
act of INIarch 3, IS'jl, which directed the President of the United States 
to reserve lands in whole or in i)art covered with timber. The forest- 
reservation policy thus inaugurated was carried out, tirst, by President 
Harrison, who made some 13, 000, (HHj acres of forest reservations, fol- 
lowed by President Cleveland, wlio made some 27,000,000 acres of 
forest reservations, and has been continued by President McKinley 
since; so that the total area now within forest-i-eservation boundaries 
is al)Out 47,000,000 acres. These resinwations were made for two pur- 
l)oses, the chief of whicli at present is the conservation of water and 
the other the perpetuation of the supply of wood. The Federal Gov- 
ernment makes an appropriation of ■'^300,000 a year, expended through 
the General Land Office, for the protection of these forests, for these 
two purposes, and a second appropriation of ^150,000 a year, expended 
through the Geological Survey, for the survey, nuipping, and descrip- 
tion of these reserves, also with the ultimate view of protecting them; 
and a. third approi)i'iation, of 1^88,520, expended through the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, a portion of which is also devoted to the study 
of these reserves for the same purpose. Consecjuently, in forest mat- 
ters the policy of the United States to expend money for the protection 
of ii-rigation is well lixed. A forest is essentially a storage reservoir, 
and consequently tlie policy of Government storage I'eservoirs is not a 
new one. 

Mr. Barham. Tlie Government pays out now nearly ^500,000 a year 
for tlie protection of forests which are storage reservoirs; is that the 
substance of the statement':' 

Mr. I^INCHOT. Y»^s; for tlu^ i)rotection of storage i-eservoirs in the 
West. 

Mr. Barham. If \'(ni allow me to suggest it, it seems to me that your 
statement up to this time will not be very clear to people who do not 
understand what you are talking about. "Forest reserves," "Con- 
servation of the water for irrigation" — now, they do not know what 
you are talking about. Can not you explain that so when a man reads 
5'our statement he will know what you are talking abont? We our 
selves know exactly what it means; but I can give a number of illus- 
trations, and you can, undoubtedly, give many others of the importance 
of the preservation of the forests and wliat that amounts to in con- 
serving Avater. 

Mr. Pinchot. The protection which forests offer against evapora- 
tion by their shade, by breaking the wind, and by their creation and 
protection of a soil cover, makes them natni-al storage reservoirs for 
water. 

The crowns of the trees shade the ground from the sun and wind. 
They also form the forest floor Avith their litter of leaves and twigs, 
and this mass of decaying ti'ce refuse is the most important element 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 73 

in retarding- evaporation and surface flow. This vegetable mold pre- 
vents whatever sun and wind that pass the tops of the trees from 
reaching the soil, besides being of a very spongy nature itself. 

When rain falls upon a forested area, a great deal of it is caught bj^ 
the leaves on the trees and held for a time before it reaches the soil. 
The ground litter also keeps some of the water in it for periods which 
depend upon its depth and quality. When there is so much rain that 
the soil is too wet to absorb more, the obstruction which the trunks of 
the trees and the forest litter offer has consideral)le influence in keep- 
ing the water from at once rusliing off into the streams. 

The destruction of the forest removes the source of tlie litter. 
Without tree tops or ground cover to intercept the drops, rain soon 
pounds the upper soil into a compact mass which water can not pene- 
trate easily, thus forcing it to flow away over the surface at once. 
There is also no longer the obstruction to this surface flow which the 
tree trunks and litter of leaves and twigs formerly atforded. The 
result is that the water which falls upon the denuded land has nothing 
to prevent it from flowing right away. In its downward course it 
washes the land and carries much soil away with it to be deposited on 
the level, lower land below. In the high altitudes where snow gathers 
the influence of the forest is both in shading the snow from the sun 
and wind and in keeping it from sliding down into streams. 

Mr. Maxwell. Is it not a fact that the preservation of the forests, 
not onlj' of the trees but the protection of the surface of the soil by 
the undergrowth and grass and everything wliich is a part of the for- 
est growth, is very necessary to prevent the washing of debris in the 
reservoirs? 

Mr. PiNCHOT. It is essential. Not only is the forest a storage reservoir 
itself for the distribution of water, the conservation of the supply, but 
also it acts by its numerous roots and protecting cover as a blanket for 
the loose soil holding it from being washed into the streams and caught 
in the reservoirs. No system of storage reservoirs l)uilt on an}' water- 
sheds not controlled by forest can be permanent. The chief danger 
to anj^ storage-reservoir system is that the reservoir itself will be filled 
up with silt. This is not a theoretical statement; it is based on a 
large number of known cases in which very expensive irrigation 
works have been entirely ruined by the deposit of silt, and the only 
known means of protection against that is the maintenance of forest 
on the watersheds. Forest destruction above stoi-age reservoirs is 
uniformly followed by serious damage or destruction of the reservoirs 
themselves. 

Mr. Maxwell. Your idea is that the preservation of the forest is 
a preventive? 

Mr. PiNCHOT. Exactly. Forest destruction causes silting, and for- 
est preservation stops it. Danger from that source can 1)e ol)viated 
by a proper system of forests, and that is the only way in which it 
can be obviated. 

Mr. Barham. Can not you put that in a little plainer way? Now, 
by way of illustration, take a place where a forest has been cut off. 
When the waters fall, as they do in our section of the country, the 
water coming down in torrential streams — and I suppose in almost all 
the arid regions they are torrential streams — that forest being all gone 
and the underbrush being gone, the accumulation of loose dirt, rocks, 
and stone and debris from the destruction of the timlier, and all that 
kind of thing, goes down into the reservoir that you have built. I 
know in California the great cannons have been filled up; they will 



74 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

mine ou either side of these canyons and on the little streams that 
run into these canyons. They will fill np 30 or 50 or 100 or 300 feet 
deep. NoAv, when the torrential storm comes on the wliole thing', 150 
or 200 feet deep, is swept ont as clean as- it could be and carried into 
the navigable river below or upon the farms below. It would be pre- 
cisely the same, it seems to me, with a reservoir, if you do not have the 
iinderl)rush or the trees or forests to prevent this silt coming down — 
this del)ris, this sand, and dirt coming down — and the lirst thing you 
would know you would not have any reservoir, or rather a reservoir 
of sand and dirt and pebbles and rocks and stumps and logs and 
everything that is loose which would go down into that and fill up the 
reservoir. 

Mr. PixCHOT. Precisely. Your reservoir would no longer hold 
water. I am familiar with t)ne that filled up so completely that a 
canal had to be dug through it. 

Mr. Maxwell. I remember an incident as to some forest in the 
mountains of southern California where the ashes and silt from the 
fire came down and left great l)anks of it. 

Mr. PiNCHOT. A more recent fire in southern California gives a still 
better illustration. There are two canyons, side by side, in the 8an 
Jacinto Forest Reserve, one of which was burned out. The area was 
as 1 to 21). The smaller one was ])urned out. A heavy storm occurred 
after the fire, and immediately after the storm the canyon whose area 
was one was discharging more water than tlie canyon whose drainage 
area was twenty-nine times as great. 

Mr. Barham. .Judge Wilson, of Arizona, is here and desires to be 
heard along the same line. lie has only a few remarks to make, I 
understand, and then will extend his remarks in the record. 

STATEMENT OF HON. J. F. WILSON, DELEGATE FROM ARIZONA. 

Mr. Wilson, of Arizona. I simply want to get the points which my 
bill brings out before you. 

Mr. Barham. How long would il take you to do that? 

Mr. Wilson. I suppose about twenty minutes — it may be longer. 
I will be brief as possible, however. The bill concerning which I wish 
to speak is as follows: 

[H. R. oTSl Fifty-sixth Congress, first session.] 

A BILL to authorize the construction of a reservoir near San Carlos, Arizona, to provide 
water for irrisatiug; Sacaton Reservation, and for other purposes. 

Whereas the Indians located upon the Sacaton Reservation have, since time imme- 
morial, supported themselves by agriculture through utilizing for irrigation 
the waters of Gila River; and 

Whereas these Indians have at all times been friends of the whites as against the 
attacks of the Apaches, and through this fact the whites have been encouraged 
to settle near the reservation and utilize the waters of Gila River; and 

Whereas the development of irrigation along Gila River conseijuent upon the set- 
tlement of the iiublic lands has diminished the flow in that stream until the 
Indians have been deprived of water and are forced to become dependent upon 
the charity (if the Government for food; and 

Whereas this deplorable condition has existed for a number of years and has been 
called to the attention of the Indian Office from time to time, and as a result 
investigations have been made, a preliminary report being published in Senate 
Document Numbered Twenty-seven, Fifty-fourth Congress, second session; 
and also in Water-Supply and Irrigation Paper Numbered Thirty-three of the 
United States Geological Survey; and 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. i 5 

Whereas the result of these investigations shows that water can be obtained in an 

economical manner only by means of storage reservoirs; and 
Whereas suitable locations for these have been found at a number of places — 
notably at The Buttes, Riverside. San Carlos, and Guthrie, and also on Queen 
Creek— and an examination of all these, and comparison of costs and benefits, 
shows that thi^ San Carlos location is to be preferred: and 
Whereas the conclusions of the engineers and experts employed in the investiga- 
tion are that a masonry dam can be built at ^an Carlos, forming a reservoir 
of two hundred and forty thousand acre-feet capacity, and that the water sup- 
ply is ample to fill such a reservoir in years of minimum flow, and that the 
volume of storage will irrigate at least one hundred thousand acres in addi- 
tion to the irrigation of the lands of the Indians; also that it is feasible to 
increase the height at least seventy feet, forming a reservoir whose ultimate 
capacity would be approximately five hundred and fifty thousand acre-feet; 
and 
Whereas by the construction of such a dam a portion of the lands on the San Car- 
los Reservation will be flooded: Therefore, 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of I-irjiresentatives of tJie United States of 
America i)i Con(Ji-ess ((.ssendtled. That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is 
hereby, authorized and directed to take the necessary steps to secure title to the 
Government for the lands to be flooded or needed for the purpose of reservoir 
construction and for line of canal from the reservoir or reservoirs, and that any 
lands now the property of the United States needed for this purpose, or the value 
of which is affected, be segregated and removed from entry and settlement. 

Sec. ■,>. That for the purpose of sounding for bed rock at the foundations ot the 
proposed San Carlos dam. for preparing detailed plans and estimates, and for 
beginning the construction of foiindations and the completion of said dam or dams, 
the sum of one million dollars be appropriated, to be expended under the direction 
of the Secretary of the Interior: and that the said work shall begin as early as 
possible, and shall be prosecuted to completion without delay. 
Sec. y. That this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage. 

Tins question has been before the Committee on Irrigation of /vrid 
Lands for nearly two years. Hearings upon top of hearings luive 
been had by this committee, with a view of obtaining eompU'te l^nowi- 
edge of the facts baclv of the proposition that tlie dam should be 
built. After exliansting tlie testimony on tlie snl).ject and an inves- 
tigation of all the facts, tlie committee has reacluMl Die conclusion 
whicli is formulated in the report, which I will now read: 

REPORT BY THE COMMITTEE ON IRRIGATION OF ARID LANDS ON 
THE PROPOSED DAM ON GILA RIVER. ARIZONA. 

Your committee find that the Indians known as the Pima Indians are located on 
the Sacaton Indian Reservation, on the Gila River, in the Territory of Arizona, 
some 20 miles 1 elow Florence, in Pinal County. They and other Indians with 
them, mainly dependent upon the products of the soil coming from that reserva- 
tion, are in number about s.OOO. These Indians from time immemorial have 
occupied this partimlar section now known as the Sacaton Reservation, which 
contains about ."iO.OUO acres of land. oO.UoO of which is the most productive soil of 
the valley, and have sui)ported themselves by agriculture by utilizing for irriga- 
tion the waters of Gila River. They have afwajs been the friends of the Ameri- 
can people, and at times, when the savage warrior made it dangerous for the 
Americans and pioneers in that country to be there at all, because of their 
cruel warfare, they became the defender of the white man against the fierce 
Apache, and their reservation was a safe retreat for him; and now their chief 
boast is that not one of their tribe has ever stained his hands in white man's 
blood. 

As civilization progressed and that country became settled, the lands of the Gila 
River have been taken up by the white settlers above this reservation, who bought 
them from the Government, which lands carried water rights, etc.. and they have 
appropriated the waters of the river as they flow naturally down the stream, until 
now these Indians have not sufficient water to irrigate exceeding from 1,000 to 
2.000 acres of their land in the dry seasons. With sufficient water, which they 
crave so much, to irrigate the lands which they desire to put into cultivation and 
to till, these Indians would be able to cultivate and raise products of the soil suf- 
ficient to pay all of the expenses to which the Government has been put on their 



7() AKID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

account, and to create a sinking fund in the Treasury besides. In other words, 
it would take them off the expense list entirely, and that is great. 

And if the Government has the right to convey these lands to tlie 
wliite settlers, who take them up and make them homes for the people, 
it lias the riglit also as guardian of these Indians to make the lands 
sullieiently productive to take the Indians off the expense list of the 
Government, which now costs al>out 870, 00<^ a year. 

The Government of the United States now has appropriated through Congress 
$:'.(),(»(I0 for their maintenance, simply to feed them, while the other expenses which 
the Government must bear on their account amounts to about $.3U,000 a year, 
making the expense about sTO.OOii every year that the Government must bear on 
account of these Indians, all of which wouM lie avoided if this dam should be 
erected ami the reservoir constructed as provided in the bill. 

That it is ])ractical and would ])e profita1)le to the Government to build this dam 
seems to have been established by the Government's experts who have investi- 
gated the facts concerning it. The preliminary report published in Senate Doc. 
No. 'J7, Fifty-fourth Congress, second session, and also in Water-Supply and Irri- 
gation Paper No. 33. lately published by the (ieological Survey, show plainly and 
conclusively that it is practical and that it would be profitable to build this dam, 
and that it should be built and this reservoir constructed. 

Your committee also find it to be an established fact that the dam when built 
to the height of l.jH feet, which it may be, will hold when full i;47.00i) acre-feet, or 
water enough to cover that immber of acres a foot deep. If raised 70 feet higher, 
which it may be, it would contain ■"i.jO.ODD acre-feet. 

This outlay will cost a little less than ."51,0(10,00(1. or not exceed that amount, 
the amount carried in this bill. When complet 'd there will be water enough 
saved for distribution, on an economic basis, in the dry season when water is 
neeiled, that could not be obtained from the stream, to irrigate the 30,000 acres of 
easy irrigable lands of the Indians to the effect heretofore stated, and have a 
surplus of water sufficient to irrigate at least 140. 000 acres besides. 

Tliis surplus would be at hand were the dam raised but 100 feet; and when 
raisetl 70 feet higher that surplus would be nearly enough to irrigate a half mil- 
lion acres. There woiild be sufficient water in this surplus, at a fair price, far 
below what white settlers now pay for water rights, to place all of their lands 
already purchased in a high state of cultivation, and to reach and reclaim much 
of tiie now (Tovernment land undisposed of. which might be disposed of to the 
white settlers at a reasonable price per acre with the water rights attached. These, 
all taken together, would reimburse the Giivernment for its outlay in less than 
ten years. This being done would take the Indians oft' of the expense list of the 
Government — they would lie made self-siastaining. Hundreds of thousands of 
acres of now idle land would be reclaimed and hundreds of homes made for the 
white settlers, and great wealth thereby added to the already existing wealth of 
the country. 

On the general topic 1 maintain the (TOVernment should reclaim its 
arid lands, and ou this I say that money expended for the reclamation 
of ai'id lands will result in a still greater growth and a still greater 
development, greater production of wealth than any other single enter- 
prise in which the Government may embark. I have the data here, 
the flgures showing wliat has heretofore l)eeu expended on other enter- 
prises less important than this one. 

Therefore, by your consent, and having your undivided attention, 
appearing for that brave people in my portion of the West who braved 
the dangers of the AVest, then inhabited by savage tribes, living under 
the burning sun, where the bird wns without song, and who put their 
hands on the savage mane and led him from bloody plains of savage 
warfare to safe fields of industry and homes of civilized quiet peace, 
I proceed to the detailed statement of facts and give them as reasons 
W'hy the Government should undertake to reclaim the.se arid lands. 
I submit also that these facts, grouped as argument, are more cogent 
and strong than any facts and arguments that were ever offered at the 
beginning of the governmental action in building internal canals for 
internal commerce. 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 77 

- I apprehend that anyone who has not given particular attention to 
this question has no idea of tlie amount of land to be disposed of by 
the General Government. The Land Department, up to a few 3'ears 
ago, had not the slightest conception of it itself. Only about twenty- 
five years ago we heard from the Seeretarj' of the Interior that there 
were perhaps 10,000,000 acres of public lands for sale; and yet since 
that time there have been over 150,000,000 acres sold, more than twice 
the area of the Republic of France; and since the investigation has 
been carried to its limit it has been found that there are more than 
567,000,000 acres of Govei'ument lands subject to its disposition to-day. 

Of that 567,000,000 acres of public lands subject to the disposition 
of the Government there are 541,205,24:8 acres of it in the arid West, 
in the 15 States and Territories in the Union known as the arid region. 
An equal distribution of these lands among the several States, situ- 
ated as they are, side b}' side, makes it a matter of inquiry as to 
whether or not it is not policy for the nation to take charge of them 
and place them in condition for sale to possible home seekers of the 
Union, in which over 76,000,000 of our people live and to whom the 
lands belong. 

I believe in equal distribution; and perhaps it is difficult to under- 
stand how the public land can be distributed in order that we may 
advance the theory that the distribution and reclamation of so vast a 
territory should l)e a national affair. 

The reclamation of the arid lands should be by the Government, 
because of the immensity of the amount to be reclaimed, and of its 
even distribution over the arid States and Territories, and because it 
must be reclaimed almost entirely by means of irrigation, if reclaimed 
at all — all in view of the fact that it is now the property of the Gen- 
eral Government. Public opinion can hardly realize that there is now, 
or was at the end of the fiscal j^ear 1890, a little more than 567,000,000 
acres of public land undisposed of by the Government; yet it is true, 
and 541,265,2-18 acres of this amount is situated in the arid States and 
Territories, and is distributed as follows: 

Acres. Acres. 

Arizona.... 54,608,531 New Mexico 54,720,863 

California 50,133.241 Oregon 38,435.873 

Colorado 41.988,377 North Dakota 1S»,500,555 

Idaho 34,225,149 South Dakota 13.006,396 

Kansas 734. 080 Utah 35. 231. 466 

Montana 74.558,143 Washington 19,098,430 

Nebraska 10.799,832 Wyoming 52,055,248 

Nevada 42, 385. 735 

This list shows something of an even distribution of these lands 
over the arid States and Territories, and in view of this fact it becomes 
important to know something of how much of it is subject to recla- 
mation, and how. As to this, the most authentic means at our com- 
mand is the report of the special Senate committee of the United 
States Senate on tlie reclamation of arid lands and irrigation, made 
to the Senate in 18!)0. In that they reported that there was from 
100,000,000 to 150,000,000 acres of this land that could be made pro- 
ductive, and that only by means of irrigation — more than five times the 
quantity of reclaimed land in British India, from which 110,000,000 
people are maintained. Some maintain that these lands should be 
ceded to the States and Territories. All history shows that this would 
be a failure. Especiallv is it so here. 

By the acts of Congress, March 2, 1840, to the act of March 12, 1860, 
nearly 60,000,000 acres of land of the General Government, lying in 



78 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

15 States of the Union, known as swamp lands, were ceded to the vari- 
ons States in which tliey lay. They are as follows: 

Acres. I Acres. 

Alabama..- 414,310 Michigan. 5,729,843 

Arkansas . 7,668,987 Minnesota 3,109.143 

California - 1, 773, 857 Mississippi 3, 335, 437 

Florida 16,631.303 Missouri 4,495,816 

Illinois. 1,493,718 Ohio.. 35,660 

Indiana 1,265, 107 I Oregon 315,164 

Iowa 933.949 ! Wisconsin 3,349,133 

Louisiana 8,968.880 i 

These are the beneficiarj^ States of the swamp-laud grants; and 
they are all, with a single exception, bettor able, so far as monetary 
expenditure may be concerned, to reclaim these lands granted to 
them by means of the levee system (and which is but the counterpart 
of the reservoir and canal system necessary to reclaim the arid lands, 
and far less expensi\e) than any of the arid States and Territories 
are to reclaim the arid lands in their boundaries. This will not be 
denied by those who opposf^ this theory I apprehend, because through 
the whole space of nearly' fifty years not a single one of these 
States has ever made a single record of success by the reclamation of 
any of these lands that had to be reclaimed. They mostly went into 
the hands of alien speculators and land sharks for naught. On the 
other hand, the history of other countries that have taken the matter 
of reclaiming their arid lands in hand as a national enterprise for 
their people have made a prime success of it in every instance. 

From time immemorial Egypt has maintained hei" entire population 
on lands tliat Egypt reclaimed as a national enterprise, and by it, in 
ages past, gained the name and title "The granary of the world." 

This is no failure, and is an ai'guraent in our favor. Not only so, 
but in British India, where famine and starvation in former days pre- 
vailed because of the shortage in the i)ro(luclion of the soil, since the 
reclamation of al>out 2G,0(J(>,0(H) of acres of land l)y the Government 
as a national project famine has been prevented, death from starva- 
tion has ceased, and 11(>,000,0(»() of its people are maintained from the 
production of the reclaimed land by the hand of the Government. 
This is the success recorded in history for that enterprise. 

The Governments of France, Spain, Algeria, Australia, Argentina, 
and Peru all bear the same testimony without a break on the same 
point. Therefore we see that in every instance when the work was 
taken in hand as a national enterprise it was a success, while on the 
other hand, when turned into the charge of the State, in ever^^ single 
instance it has proved a failure, and hence we fear the dangerous 
course wherein this all-important matter of reclaiming the public 
domain has so often heretofore fallen and foundered, and cling to 
that which has so often carried its followers into the haven of success. 

Another reason is that, in the event of the States and Territories 
being flnanciall}^ able to reclaim the lands, insuperable physicial bar- 
riers would be so prominently in the wny that it could not be umde 
practically effectual there. 

This would be due to the fact that all of the streams of any great mag- 
nitude in the West, and upon which the greatest irrigation schemes 
would necessarily depend for the reclamation of the greatest bodies of 
these arid lands, have their source in Wyoming, Colorado, and New 
Mexico. If these States should have the sovereign control of these lands 
in their boundaries they would necessarily have the water as well, and 
would, as a matter of sovereign right, have the control of it, and 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 79 

would therefore be able to defy the law of prior appropriations as 
applied between individuals, and bj^ divertinj? the head waters of those 
streams would have those States and Territories lying below them at 
their mercy. At least it would be so in a measure. To state these 
physical advantages in favor of those three sovereign communities is 
to argue the case on this point, in so far as I now have the time to 
advert to it on that point. 

Again, to ask this reclamation to be made by the General Govern- 
ment for the people of the West would be asking only fair and impar- 
tial treatment as between them and the people of the South and East 
and North. It would be asking no more for the benefit of agriculture 
in the West than the Govei-nment has done for the benefit of inland 
commerce in those sections just named. 

For the beneflt of inland commerce in those sections the Government 
has appropriated from time to time as original expenditure, to say 
nothing of the cost of keeping up the various canals, etc., in which it 
had an interest, no less than ^2.30,850,507.00, and, as before stated, 
none will deny that this was wisely expended. 

These expenditures have been somewhat of a local nature too, rather 
than national, or for the national benefit. They were as follows — that 
is, there has been expended for inland commerce in the boundaries of 
the following States the following: 

Alabama $2. 7G4, 191 . 19 ' Mississippi ... - $2. 323, 856. 10 

Arkansas 784, 910. 28 ] New Hampshire 434, 930. 86 

California 4,181,251.78 New Jersey 2,068,087.26 

Connecticut 2,696.545.19 ' New York 17,495.321.60 

Delaware _ 3, 223, 118. 44 North Carolina 4, 046. 935. 07 

District of Columbia 240, 000. 00 ' Ohio . 5,741,812.37 



Florida 2,511,509.05 

Georgia 3, 382. 538. 91 

Idaho 15, 000. 00 

Illinois.... - 4,948,784.11 

Indiana 1,869,7.53.03 

Iowa 819.563.37 

Kansas 7, 561 . 73 



Oregon 5,264,863.66 

Pennsylvania 2, 451 , 292. 25 

Rhode Island 1.538,214.00 

South Carolina. 2, 912, 679. 90 

Tennessee 670,089.85 

Te-xas 6, 652, 697. 16 

Vermont 767, 946. 84 



Kentucky 1, 705, 531 . 99 \ Virginia 3, 837, 643. 23 

Louisiana. 9,609,451.85 | Washington 534,232.28 

Maine 2,483.686.66 Wisconsin 7,705,301.33 

Maryland 3,790,876.83 ' Miscellaneous expendi- 

Massachusetts 4, 943, 767. 10 ture . _ 188, 405, 189. 96 

Michigan 3,805. 167.81 ' 

Minnesota 1, 771, 810.46 | Total 230,850,567.60 

Not only so, but in at least twenty States in tlie Union the Govern- 
ment has exercised the functions of a canal builder, not uuAvisely 
either, as before stated, and not in a single instance has it been done 
in any part of the vast arid West ; and it has also all been done in the 
direct interest of commerce and not of agriculture. As evidence of 
this we submit the following statistics bearing on this subject: 

In the last fifty-three j-ears Congress lias expended in cleaning and 
improving harbors, building dams, canals, and the like work gener- 
ally ^392,1300,596.28. 

In 1890 alone for the same purpose $71,158,050.88 Avas exjjended. 

This was all for the benefit of commerce in the East. 

For canals and dams alone, for the benefit of commerce mainly, if 
not alone, the Government has made the following appropriations in 
the following-named States : 

Alabama. — Grant of 5 per cent net proceeds of public lands after 1819; sale of 
same for canal on Tennessee River, i?! 0,000. 
Floi-ida.— For the Peninsula Canal, §30,000. 



80 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Uliiiois. —Lake Michigan and Mississippi River Canal, .$'200, 000; Hennepin Canal, 
$50,000. 

ruiliana. — Wal)ash Rivei- Dam and Canal. $65,000; Lake Erie and Wabash River 
Canal, $15,000; Ohio r. land grant of 2\ sections on each side of all canals. 

Iowa, — Canal from Red River to Mississippi. $1,500: Des Moines Rapids Canal, 
$733,750; Sault Ste. Marie Canal, $65,000. 

Keiitiiclii/. — Louisville and Portland Canal, purchase of 1,000 shares of stock of 
the private corporation organi/^e 1 to bni d it. Value, $100,000. Subse'^uent pur- 
chase and maintenance of the same, $S25.00(). 

0/(/(>.—(Jhio River Falls Canal, $90,000; Cumberland River Canal, $10,000; Rough 
River Canal, $,'5,000: Zanesville and Taylorville Canal. $102,000. 

LouisHina. — New Orleans Outlet Canal and Clarenton Canal. $150,000. 

Mississippi. — Carondelet Canal, $25,000; canal from Mississippi to Gulf of Mex- 
ico. $75,000; also <) per cent net proceeds of all public-land sales for canal purposes. 

3Iicliigaii, — Grant of 300.000 acres of land to build canal between Lake Superior 
and Lac La Belle: St. Clair Canal, $l,OUi'), 250; Secretary of War authorized todraw 
for annual expenses for maintaining the canal; St. Mary's Canal. $850,000; Secre- 
tary of War authorized to draw for annual expenses in maintaining the canal. 

New Jersci/. — Ship canal across Bergen Neck, $150,000. 

Oregon. — Cascade Canal, $1,728,000. 

Pen nsi/I n ui ia .—finrveys for ship canal from Allegheny to the sea. $300,000; pur- 
chase of Monongahela Canal and improvements of the same. $358,733. 

South Off /■o/^(r^— Purchase of 800 shares of Dismal Swamp Canal Company's 
stock: Santee Canal, $3U, 000. 

Teinu'ssii. —Tt'nuessee River Canal. $250,000. 

TtMVf.s-.— Galveston and Brazos River Canal. .$25,000. 

Virginia. — Purchase of 750 shares of Chesapeake Canal Stock Company's stock; 
purchase of 10,001) shares of Chesapeake and Ohio Company's stock; Chesapeake 
and Delaware Canal, $20,000: survey canal Chesapeake Bay to Charleston, $10,000. 

IVasli i)igtoii. —Unvvey canal Lake Union to Puget Sound, $10,000. 

Survey canal Bakers Bay and Shoal water Bay, $10,500. 

Wisconsin.— Fox River and Wisconsin River Canal, li sections of land on each 
side of Fox River, .$25,000; Milwaukee and Rock River Canal, 5 per cent of net 
proceeds of public land sales, $146,000; Wisconsin River Canal, $10,000; Green 
Bay and Lake Michigan Canal, grant of 200,000 acres. Purchase of portage of 
Lake Michigan and Lake Superior Canal, .$350,000; improving same, $20,000. 

To this much we refer to .show what the Govenmient has done for 
the benefit of inland eomnieree in the sections of country before 
named, and that the Government has wisely done it as a national 
work we are liere to assert. But wdiile w^e do, we further assert that, 
as a work of the General Gevernment, between the construction of a 
reservoir for the encouragement of inland commerce and the con- 
struction of one for agriculture, there is practically no difference; 
and if there is, then the argument is in favor of the latter. 

To ask for this reclamation of the arid lands of the \Yest by the 
General Goverment for the benefit of agriculture in this great West- 
ern country is only to ask that fair play and even-handed justice be 
done between the different sections of this great country. It is but 
an appeal to the magnanimity of the General Government. 

From Ma}', 1875, to June 30, 189<), the Government received from 
the sale of public lands, chiefiy from the West, !tp3;3G,532,12!».20, which 
was expended in Eastern improvements. Scarcely a. dollar was ever 
returned for any Eastern improvement or benefit. 

This great Government can not afford 1o stain its name with par- 
tiality so great as to refuse to Jidd its aid to that vast section in the 
West for the benefit of agriculture when it has done so much for 
commercial classes and commercial sections in other parts of the 
country. Indeed, my people do not expect it. They believe that this 
great country, wdiose bosom but a short time ago w^as trodden bj^ the 
hoof of w^ar, that passed from under it and through the greatest war 
ever known to civilization, and did it successfully, and did it without 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 81 

the confiscation of a sin^ie estate or the execution of a single politi- 
cal offender, can nevei- be so unfair. 

Mr. Barham. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Mondell would like to have a 
few moments to continue his remarks. 

STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK W. MONDELL, OF WYOMING. 

Mr. Chairman: The committee very kindly gave me some time 
the other day, and before I had concluded the hour of 12 had arrived, 
and it was suggested that I should conclude to-day. I will tak(^ but 
a short time, as Mr. ^lead, the irrigation expert from the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, is here, and I know you will be glad to hear from 
him, he having been invited by Mr. Wilson and the committee. 

I hope I made my position on some phases of the questions of 
national aid to irrigation development clear the other day, and I shall 
not go into that matter to-day except to reiterate briefly that it seems 
to me that the work which the National Government should under- 
take in the interest of irrigation is the work suggested by the resolu- 
tions of the Irrigation Congress last year. That is the work of con- 
servation — of making the waters of the arid regions available for irri- 
gation and does not contemplate the Government's actually reclaiming 
lands. The distribution of water in irrigation is a local enterprise and 
maybe left to individual enterprise to carry out. On the other hand, 
the work of making available the waters which the Almighty has pro- 
vided in the arid regions w^hich are now available only to the extent 
of a very small proportion of their entire volume, owing to the fact 
that they rush down in flood periods and not uniformly during the 
irrigation season, is a public work. 

I believe we are more likely to get Government aid by confining 
our efforts, as suggested by the National Irrigation Congress, to 
appropriations for conservation projects — conservation projects in 
the nature of storage reservoirs at the headwaters of streams to store 
flood waters, to be turned loose in the latter portion of the irrigation 
season to make up for the deficiency in flow, and conservation pro- 
jects where the jn-oposition is to take waters of a great stream in the 
watershed of which there is no irrigable land and divert it to the 
watershed of another stream where there is irrigable land. Also those 
projects where streams, lying in deep canyons, would require divert- 
ing canals of great length and at great cost to bring tlie water to the 
surface, to place it in the sauie position that nature placed the water 
of those streams that flow near the surface. In brief, the work which 
the Government should undertake is that of making available all of 
the water in the arid regions for irrigation purposes. 

Mr. Reeder. When the Government has made this available by 
your plan, does your bill propose a plan as to who shall then deter- 
mine how the water shall be devoted? 

Mr. Mondell. I will say to the gentleman that every State in the 
arid region has a code of laws and customs relative to the diversion 
and use of waters, and under these laws and customs all water-s used 
in irrigation in the arid region must be diverted and applied. The 
National Government can not attemjit to interfere with those laws and 
customs without endless confusion. I think the Government aid 
should begin with the work of a purely national character, and end 
where you have placed the waters where private enterprise can divert 
and distribute them; and my idea is that in doing this the Govern - 

11 IDG— 01 G 



82 AKID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

inent slionld expect no direct return. If you liad a specific project 
l)efore yon, where it seemed tliat there was an opportunity to secure a 
return, I do not know that there would be any objection to anattemj)t 
to do that, but I have some doubts of the feasibility of the Govern- 
ment's securinti' a full reimbursement, except it shall collect the same 
llirough the medium of tlie States by a charije for the use of the waters 
made available in addition of course to whatever nominal charge the 
(Government might make for public lands under its project. It nar- 
rows tlie scope of Government aid and the possibility of Government 
expenditure tremendously to say that it shall l)egin and end with stor- 
age and large stream diversion. Instead, then, of it being a question 
whetlier the Government shall actually aid in the irrigation of per- 
haps 75,000,00(1 acres at a considerable cost pei' acre, the problem is 
simply one of making available for use in irrigation the waters of the 
arid regions. This is the work which private enterprise can not under- 
take and which the States can not so well undertake as the National 
Government, because in nearly all of these enterpi-ises there are inter- 
state questions. 

The bill (H. R. bV.iOo) which I introduced on tliis subject, after dedi- 
cating the proceeds from the sales of puljlic lands to the aid of irriga- 
tion, provided for a full and comprehensive report from the Geological 
Survey, to be made to Congress next winter, as to the general subject, 
and report of the detailed survey and examination of at least one 
project for the conservation or development of water in each arid and 
scmiarid State, to be presented to the Congress as a basis of legisla- 
tion as the reports of the Chief of Engineers are presented to Congress 
for the use of the River and IIarl)or Committee at the beginning of each 
Congress. 

I tliink that the suggestion of Mr. Newlands that the public-lands 
fund shall in the future be dedicated to the cause of irrigation a wise 
one. He dedicates it in his bill to the irrigation of arid lands; I 
dedicate it in mine to works for making the waters of the arid region 
availal)le for irrigation. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. It has been dedicated two or three times 
])ef()re, and anj* part tliat still remains, I am afraid, is so limited that 
little can be riccomi)lislied. 

The Chairman. There is this to be said in favor of this idea, as it 
impresses me: Supposing it were possible — -which of course it is not — 
that this entire 75,0(>0,00(i acres of i-edeemable land could be redeemed 
at once; of course one result would be that, instead of the agricultural 
lands of the United States 1>eing lifted in value, tliat they would, as 
a matter of fact, l)e decreased in value. These lands are to be i-eclaimed 
as the counti'y needs them. Theprtq^osed l>ill introduces a sj'stem of 
l)utting the public-lands fund to this purpose; you go faster as you 
need it, and you will slack up as you need it. It is going to be diffi- 
cult to get the farnu'rs in my section of Oregon to approve of any 
scheme that will i)ut down the value of lands; but this is a safety 
valve, and as you need it the fund will expand, and then as you do 
not need them it will contract. I am much pleased with the sug- 
gestion. 

Mr. Newlands. You could provide that a certain price per acre 
should be demanded. I wish to say another thing with reference to 
the charges against this fund. It is true, as I ujiderstand it, that 
when agricultural colleges were started in this country that the appro- 
priations were made for them out of the public-lands fund, and that 
fund was charged witli that oblination; but it has long since been 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 83 

relieved of it. The appropriations now made for the agricnitnral col- 
leges are a \yAvt of the agricnitnral bill of the llonse. 

Mr. MoNDELL. The bill referred to wonld ntilize the f nnd, whatever 
snm there might be in it, and provides for snrveys and a report to 
Congress next Jannary, in order that the Congress may have before it 
a general statement of the entire matter and at least one conservation 
project in each State and Territory in the arid and semiarid region. 

The Chairman. Let me see if I can nnderstand your idea. Yon 
propose to build dams merely l)y the Government, and there is to be 
no charge upon any lands for that. How do you propose to distribute 
tlie water — merely to pass it down the streams in some regular Avay 
l)y the Government, or do you i)ropo8e to have ditches and draw it 
direct from the dam; and if so, if it is to be drawn from the dams, in 
what way is it to be done? 

Mr. MONDELL. My idea is that conservation works slnnild lie under- 
taken as public works on internal improvement, and when the water 
is conserved it should be turned loose at tlie proper time to supple- 
ment the waning flow of the streams. 

The ciuestion of the distribution of the water, taking it out of the 
streams, and the use of it, are to be left entirely as they are now, to 
State laws and State customs. The States have an elaborate system 
of laws and customs and regulations on this subject which are being 
perfected every year, and the States are well qualilled, in my opinion, 
to handle the question of the distribution of the water. 

I referred the othei- day to the Carey Act, which I consider a valua- 
ble auxiliary to this movement. Under that act projects of diversion 
and distribution too large to be undertaken by individuals holding 
lands under the desert-land law, can be successfully carried out 
under contract with the State, to reclaim large areas which are wholly 
l)ublic lands where the initial cost of diversion is so great that an 
individual or small neighborhood of people could not divert it them- 
selves. Beginning at the genesis of irrigation, then, the ordinary 
diversion and distribution is accomplished by the individual, the asso- 
ciation of farmers and others; the larger diversions and distributions, 
where the problem is one of irrigation only of public lands, can be 
undertaken under the Carey Act; and then j'ou come to the problems 
of conservation and the diversion of great streams to foreign water- 
sheds or from deep canyons, and these are, in my opinion, works 
which must be accomplished through i)ublic agencies, preferably the 
nation, because in nearly all of these projiositions there are interstate 
questions involved. 

The State of Nevada could not well go into California and impound 
the waters of Lake Tahoe, and it is necessary' to impound those 
waters to make available a great river in that State, and so that is 
properly a National and not a State work. Even if it were practica- 
ble to construct and manage large storage systems by private enter- 
l)rise, they should not be so managed because a system of storage 
leservoirs at the head of a stream is such an important factor in the 
floAv of the stream during the entire season, and so intimately attects 
all users of watei- along the stream, that thej' should be at all times 
under public control and never imder ijrivate control. We can 
defend otir advocacy of national aid in this class of work because it 
is national; it is public in its character and it does not directly 
reclaim any man's land. It can not be said that it is an expenditure 
of the proceeds of the sale of pul)lic lands to irrigate Jones's land, or 
Smith's land, or Brown's land, because it do(^s not make it any cheaper 



84 A KID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

for Smith, or Jones, or Brown to irrigate their lands than it would 
have been for them if nature, instead of sending those waters down 
in tremendous volumes in the early spring and then redueing the flow 
later, sent the streams downi in a steady and eontinuous flow. 

The Government would simply undertake the work of rectifying 
nature's work, as we rectify nature's work when we remove sand bars 
from the moutlis of rivers and harbors, when we take shoals out of 
interstate streams. We do not in i-iver and harbor work build the 
wharves on the banks <n- provide the anchorages, but we rectify the 
work of nature by making the waterways available for commerce; 
and we now^ aslc the Government to rectify the work of nature in the 
arid regions to the extent of making availal>le for use in irrigation the 
waters which are now valueless by reason of their uneven and uncer- 
tain flow. I believe that individuals and associations under the State 
can then attcMid to the work of distribution of water over the lands, 
and if the Government works stop at conservation, then there is no 
possible conflict, between the State and the National Government. 

Mr. Barham. As I understand your proposition, you take a stream, 
for instance, that you coidd not irrigate unless you conserved or res- 
(-rvoired the waters up in the mountains. Take Clear Lake. That is 
partly in my district. Now, if you only conserve the waters to come 
down Cache Creek, it would be of little or no benefit at all; but you 
have got to conserve the waters or reservoii- them in such a manner 
as to carry them out at an elevation above where you could carry 
them out on the stream nt>w and reservoir the waters at a point in the 
mountains, in the canyon. Your proposition is simply to build a dam 
at a point on Cache Creek, say, or at the moutli of Clear Lake, and 
back up the water, catch the waters, and then let the State attend to 
the balance of it, about digging the canals and carrying it thi-ough 
the valley? 

Here comes the Cache Creek through a deep canyon, and reaches 
t he valley. Now, where we use tliat water at all, it is way down where 
the river can be diverted or is diverted. If you hold more water up 
here and catch it in the lake, you want to start that canal or river 100 
nnles above where you use the river. In that case you would let the 
State or corporation attend to it? 

Mr. MoNDELL. I shall try to confine (4overnment aid to such works 
as are necessary tt) make the water available for irrigation. 

Mr. Nevvlands. But your idea also, I think, as I have heard you 
state it, covers, if necessary, carrying the water from the storage 
reservoirs over intervening mountains, and so forth, to the point 
where i^rivate enterprise can take hold of it? 

Mr. INIONDELL. Yes, if that were necessary to make the stored water 
available; but I have not in mind any case where you would take 
stored waters across a divide. 

Mr. Newlands. I kncnv of such a case. 

Mr. Barham. That vei-y case that I illustrated; I know of a dozen 
of them. 

Mr. MoNDELL. That would then be pait of the work necessary to 
make water availal)le for distribution under State laws by private 
enterprise. 

Mr. Newlands. Your plan then would include the canal that is 
necessary to carry it to the point where private enterprise would take 
it? 

Mr. MoxDELL. My plan includes anything necessary to make water 
available, and nothing for the actual distribution of water over lands. 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 85 

Tliere is a vai'iety of projects that could be taken up l)esides storage 
reservoirs; the simiDlest are diversions of great rivers like the Colo- 
rado or the Green, where there is a surplus of water above the needs 
of its own watershed, carrying it into another drainage where there 
is little water but plenty of irrigal)le land. Such a diversion by the 
Government does not of course irrigate the land ; it simply makes it 
possible for private enterprise to undertake the work of a|)plying the 
water to the land. 

STATEMENT OF HON. F. G. NEWLANDS, OF NEVADA. 

Mr. Newlands. Mr. Ehvood Mead is here as an expert in these 
matters. Before he speaks I woiikl like to state brietly my two bills, 
so that Mr. Mead can address himself to them. 

We all agree in the West that irrigation is a public use, just as 
navigation is; that the maintaining and sustaining an equal flow in 
the river is just as much of a public work as river and liarbor improve- 
ments for the promotion of navigation or commerce. We would all 
be very glad to see the Government undertaki^ tliat work of the stor- 
age of water in our rivers and the maintenance of an equal and sus- 
tained flow witliout hope of compensation, and I have shaped a l)ill in 
reference to that; and I have also shaped a l)ill which sets aside the 
receipts from the public lands as a fund for the reclamation of the 
j)ublic lands of the West, which offers an automatic i^lan by which 
the West will reclaim itself through the agency of the General 
Government. 

No^v, as to the first bill (II. R. 14072). I introduced that bill yester- 
day. It takes six projects which the Geological Survey has examined. 
That is the first one I would advocate. It pertains to tlie projects 
which the Geological Survey has examined and upon which it has 
made detailed reports, showing the reservoirs to be constructed, the 
cost of construction, and, incidentally, the area to he benefited by 
the improvement. One of these is in Arizona — the San Carlos — at a 
total cost of '$1,000,000. Four in California — one, the construction of 
the Hetch Iletchy reservoir, which will cost $607,000; another, the 
Clark Yalle}' reservoir, which will cost $2,000,000; and another work 
in Clark Valley, which is auxiliarj^ to the other, which will cost 
$2,100,000; Stony Creek reservoir, |;287,000; the Clear Lake reservoir, 
$452,000. Then comes Montana, with the diversion of the St. IMary 
River into Milk River, costing, for the first miles out of 1V> miles, 
$325,000. Then three Nevada enterprises — one, the Rock Creek 
reservoir, tri])utary to the IIund>oldt, $02,300; another, the Lower 
Humboldt reservoir, $148,300; another, the Truckee River, costing 
$389,000. Then comes Wyoming, with the Grey Bull reservoir, 
$49,962. Making in all $6,327,000, with the total capacity, in acre- 
feet, of 1,415,(»()0. That is to say, the water stored in all these reser- 
voirs will cover 1,415,000 acres with water 1 foot deep, and, assuming 
that that water is directly applied to land and that it requires 2 feet 
to the acre, it would irrigate about 700,000 acres; and the total cost 
per acre-foot is $4.47. That applies simply to the storage and the 
canals that are necessary to make the storage of waters available, and 
not to the diverting ditches and subditches that are necessary to irri- 
gate the land. 

Mr. Barham. LTpon all those projects we have detailed and specific 
reports and estimates? 



80 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

3[r. Newlands. Yon liavo; by the (4c'oloy,it';il Survey. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. Do you not think it would be wiser to 
divide this up Minoug' the different States, following', ])v analogy, the 
course of the river and harbor bill? 

Ml'. Newlands. I have patterned the l)ill upon the river and har- 
bor bill, wdiich takes first the projects upon which plans and estimates 
have been perfected. It considers, first, the Territory of Arizona, 
and appropriates .1<15( ),()()( ) toward the construction of the San Carlos 
dam. That, of course, will be followed up by later appropriations. 
Tlien in California it divides among three reservoii's there 81'50,()(i() — 
-SoO.OOO each. It gives 6150, 0()(^ toward the project proposed in Mon- 
tana. It gives Nevada for its three or four enterprises -'j^l 50,00(1 in 
all, applying it;:)0,000 to the Rock Creek reservoir, 'ii<40,000 to the Hum- 
boldt River reservoir, and s^Si ),()()() to the Truckee River reservoirs. 
And in Wyoming i1 gives the entire amount asked foi- — -^40,000. In 
all the other States and Territories named here ■i>150,()0() each. Then 
it takes up the question of the surveys in each State and Territory 
in the arid and semiarid region — Arizona, California, Colorado — and, 
acting upon the suggestion of the (Tcological Survey, it siiecifixcs the 
particular projects for whicli i)lans, surveys, and estimates are 
required, and makes an ai)propriation for each one of these States 
and Territories, aggregating from -slO,0(H) to -1525,000 in each, accord- 
ing to the recommendation of the Geological Survey, and it also pro- 
vides for the test wells in the artesian-well districts. Every one of 
these sixteen arid and semiai'id States is covered by appropriations 
for surveys, and plans and estimates, aggregating about 8250,000; 
and the completed projects — that is, the projects completed so far as 
plans and estimates are concerned — carry a total api)ro})i'iation of 
about .'i?r)5(),0(H). 

Now, I would be very glad to, see that l»ill passed, but I do not 
believe in the present temper of Congress it will pass, and I think it 
will take years for us to educate public sentiment to a point where it 
will pass. If we wait long enough I have no doubt it will come, but 
in the meanwhile we have reached in such States as Nevada the abso- 
lute limit of development, unless the flow of these rivers is maintained. 
And so far as we are concerned, Ave would rather enter now upon a 
work of I'eclamation which involves a restoi'ation to this fund of the 
cost of reclamation than await the possil)le advantages of a bill mod- 
eled after the river and har])or bill in four or five years. 

Now comes the second lull (II. R. 140SS), which was my first. I 
have only introduced this other bill (It. R. 14072) with reference to 
the river and harbor l)ill to meet the objections of Mv. Mondell, and, 
I believe, the partial ol>jections of Mr. Mead. I should be very glad 
to see it pass; but I understand that Mr. Mondell conies in to-day; 
and I am very glad he accepts the idea of this reclamation fund; that 
all he claims is that the fund derived from the sales of public lands 
shall be applied, not to the reclamation of public lands, but simply to 
the conservation of the waters; and I will speak of that in a few 
moments. 

This bill of mine (H. R. 1408s) provides, first, that all monej's raised 
from the sale of public lands in sixteen States and Territories (naming 
them) shall be set aside fen- the creation of a special fund, to be 
called the "Arid-land reclamation fund," which is to l)e used for the 
construction of reservoirs and other hydraulic woi'ks for the storage 
and diversion of water for the irrigation and reclaiming of arid lands. 
In the first place, what will be the size of that fund? In 1803 the sales 
from public lands were only about !t<000,0OO. They have increased 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 87 

since, until last year tliey were nearly >ii<o, 000,000. Those extraordi- 
nary receipts, I am told, arise largely from the commutation of home- 
steads in Oklahoma. Under the homestead law a man can settle 
and maintain his home for five years and get title, but he can, if he 
chooses, at the expiration of fourteen months commute that by the 
payment of 11.25 per acre; and many of these men who get productive 
farms are glad to get titles in that way, and they make the mouej^, or 
get it, and settle up with the Government, and I believe we will always 
liave very large receipts from the homestead act, although its purpose 
was to give free homes. 

Now, as to the charges upon that fund. It is true that when these 
appropriations were made to agricultural colleges that they were made 
a charge upon the public-land fund, but long since that has been 
abandoned and these appropriations are part of the regular appro- 
priation ])ill. I insist upon it that all the proceeds from the sales of 
public lands should go into this fund, and if there is any question 
about it that we sliould i-elieve the fund of that charge. 

It is true that in this bill I provided "that all public lands, except- 
ing those set aside by law for educational purposes," etc. — I believe 
there are 5 or 10 per cent going to different States for schools, etc., 
and that is intended to cover that. 

As to the method of making this fund useful in the stoi'age of water 
and the reclamation of public lands, section 2 gives the Director of 
the Geological Survey the power to go along and make investiga- 
tions and reports, estimates and plans, both with reference to the 
storage of water and the supply of water tlirough artesian wells, and 
also the diversion of streams into valleys that are not subject to them. 

The third j^rovides for the reports; the fourth provides that upon 
the filing of the reports the Secretary- of the Interior may withdraw 
froui public entry the lands which are required for reservoir or 
hydraulic purpose, or otherwise they would be taken up by specula- 
tors, and it also provides that lands subject to speculative schemes 
shall be withdrawn, so thereafter they will be subject to the advan- 
tages of reclamation schemes, so they can not be taken in large areas, 
and thus defeat the purpose of this act, which is to make homes for 
people in areas not exceeding 80 acres. 

The fourth section provides that upon the determination of the 
Secretary of the Interior that a project is practicable, that then he 
can let contracts, but the limit of his authority is the fund in the 
Treasury. He can not exceed that. It also provides that after the 
letting of a contract no entries shall be made for more than 80 acres; 
that the Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, further limit 
the number of acres in each entry. For instance, if there is a project 
presented as to the lands caiial)le of this intense cultivation, to which 
the gentleman from Arizona has alluded, then the Secretary of the 
Interior may provide a smaller unit of entry, thus increasing the num- 
ber of homes that can be created by a common project. 

Now, I come to the vital position, and I have endeavored to modify 
that in order to meet the views of Mr. JMead, which he expressed with 
great force and clearness in the hearing before the Comniittee on 
Public Lands. Section G provides "that upon the completion of each 
storage or irrigation project the total cost thereof shall be ascertained 
and the Secretary of the Interior shall prescribe such rules and regu- 
lations as to the price of the lands entered or to he entei'ed and the 
right to use the water provided by such work as shall restore to the 
arid-land reclamation fund the amount expended therefor, in ten 
annual installments, and shall also make good to such arid-land recla- 



88 AKID LANDS OV THE INITED STATES. 

mation fund the exi)eiises of administration connected xsith such 
work: Provided furfhe)-, That the right to the use of the water shall 
l>e i)erpetua:lly appui-tenant to the land irrigated, and beneficial use 
shall be the basis, the measure, and the limit of the right." That, 
you see, does not compel the Secretary of the Interior anywhere to 
enter upon the work of reclamation of the lands themselves. Per- 
ha|)s the bill is sutttciently In-oad to enable him to do it, but it does 
not comiiel him to do it. He can limit his work absolutely to the 
stoi'age of water or to the construction of a canal that will carrj- the 
stored water, as Mr. Mondell suggests, to some point where private 
enterprise can take the matter uji, and it pi-ovides an elastic method 
of compensation. The method can be eitlier by increasing the price 
of the land or by a charge for the use of tlie water, and that charge 
can be, according to his judgment and discretion, ])y tlie acre-foot, as 
iVIr. Mead suggests, or he cau attach a water right to the land itself. 
The endeavor lias been to make that so elastic that the Secretary of 
the Interior, with the aid of the Geological Survey* and the experts 
c»f the Government — the Agricultural Department and the Interior 
Department are in absolute harmony upon these questions; they are 
acting in absolute harmony to-day upon the foresti-y question, and 
doubtless are on the irrigation question — that the Secretary of the 
Interior, with reference to each project, can devise rules and regula- 
tions for that project that will work out the greatest good to the great- 
est number and at the same time retain this fund inviolate for the 
reclamation of other lands. 
The bill provides: 

That in case the water thus provided shall be more than sufficient for the recla- 
mation of the public lands, or if land in private ownership has been found by the 
survey above authorized to be better suited for the utilization of the stored or 
divided waters, or if there is a sufficiency of both, then the right to use such water 
may be sold at rates and on terms to be feed by the Secretary of the Interior, but 
no water right shall be sold to any landowner or occupant for an amount exceed- 
ing 80 acres. 

Tlie puipose there, as far as entry is concerned, is to permit the 
occupation of lands, and the purpose, so far as giving the right to use 
water is concerned, is to prevent the monopoly of lands. As it is in 
the West, through unwise land laws, we have great land monopolies, 
in some cases as man^' as several hundred thousand acres being under 
one ownership. I think Mr. Maxwell alluded to a case where you can 
travel on one man's land for 100 miles. So that the purpose is not to 
allow the man who wants to monopolize land to get the ]:»enefit of that, 
but make it to his interest to divide up his land into 80-acre tracts for 
these grantees and then obtain these rights. It works no injury to the 
landowner. He is not dej^rived of any vested right, but it will be to 
his interest to divide up his land and to sell it. 

These are the provisions of the bill. I will be glad to answer ques- 
tions regarding it at any other time, but as Mr. Mead's time is limited 
I will now yield to him. 

STATEMENT OF ELWOOD MEAD, IRRIGATION EXPERT OF THE 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, the situation which irrigation has 
reached in the West seems to be something like this: That this mat- 
ter was originally left to private enterprise, and the pioneers of irriga- 
tion selected the best localities, and in doing so were able to take 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 89 

water direct from streams at very little more expense than is now 
required to take water from main canals, simj)ly because of the favor- 
ing conditions After the most favorable opportunites had been 
reached, then private enterprise attempted reclamation on a larger 
scale. But the experience of recent years has been that those large 
enterprises — the aggregation of capital, or l)y partnership or corpora- 
tions — are unprofitable. So we have practically reached the end of 
unaided development. We have been helped, in a measure. 

Mr. Ray. If that is true, that these private enterprises which have 
been at liberty to select the most favorable conditions have not been 
able to find it profitable, is not that proof conclusive that it would be 
unprofitable and unremunerative to the Government of the United 
States to enter into that work on that line, upon the sale of lands at 
increased prices for remuneration? 

Mr. Mead. Yes, sir; if you simply take the money received; but 
the Government is in a different position from private capital. Private 
capital derives no benefit whatever from the increase, and in productive 
and taxable wealth the Government derives a large benefit from the 
population of the country that is now arid and deserted. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. Another suggestion there. The Govern- 
ment would derive a substantial l)enelit, financially speaking, indi- 
rectlj' in the sale of its lands, while the private individual would 
receive nothing except for the use of the watei'. That is, if the Gov- 
ernment, b}' conservation, paves the way for the sale of 75,000,000 
acres of land that can be reclaimed, the Government woidd receive 
something from the sale of that 75,000,000 acres which it would not 
if they were left sterile and unoccupied, as the case would be if we 
do not reclaim. So the Government would get some direct compensa- 
tion for the increased sale of land in addition to t lie indirect advantages 
resulting in the devolopment of the country. 

Mr. Mead. The Government would receive certain benefits, as has 
been stated, from the sale of the lands from which |)rivate capital 
derives no benefit whatever. I do not want to discuss this as a money- 
making enterprise; I am not discussing it on that basis at all. We 
have substantially reached the condition I have stated, so far as 
development hy private enterprise is concerned; yet we have a very 
large area of i)ublic lands yet unreclaimed and i^ractically valueless 
in its present condition, and many of the largest rivers are going to 
waste substantially undiminished. That is a tax on transportation, 
it is a tax on commerce, it is a tax on the development of the East, 
which would be largely removed if 3"OU could people that countiy. 
Those are certain benefits that will be derived by settlement that are 
matters for the nation to consider. 

Now, if it is simply a question of bringing public lands into the 
market, if we are to consider first of all the bringing of public lands 
into the market and the reclamation of public lands at the least cost, 
in my judgment the place to begin would be to take these large rivers 
that are now running to waste. The reason they have not been used 
is because the expense of constructing dams is so great that there is 
no hope of anj' return from the original outlay. 

If you bring those rivers to the surface of the ground, as the small 
streams exist — the streams that were utilized bj" the original settler — 
then settlers will be Avilling to dig out canals on the same terms as 
were done, and will be able to do it; that is, if you build these diver- 
sion works without hope of return. You can bring more land into 
use by building dams in the Missouri and the Colorado, the Snake and 



VH) ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the Green river.s, more public lands, and more private lands, possi- 
bly new lauds, than you can by any sj'stem of reservoirs, no matter 
what its cost. 

Western develoi)ment, unrestricted development, has brought about 
a condition of atfairs that makes reservoirs of immense importance. 
That condition of affairs is, that tlie variations in the flow of Western 
streams do not accord with the needs of irrigation. Streams rise before 
irrigators need the water, and they escape before they can use it ben- 
eficially. In many places streams are torrential in cliaracter, so that 
storage is an indispensable requisite to the titilization of the stream. 
On these streams, where there are early floods, where the opportuni- 
ties for diversion liave been such as to permit the construction of pri- 
vate canals, more canals have been built than there is water to fill 
them at the time it is needed. There is more land under cultivation 
than can be profitably ctiltivated, which creates a condition of very 
serious distress in many localities, and a very serious waste in many 
others. 

Let me illustrate that. The investigations made by the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture show that the demands of croi)s in June and July 
ai'e practically uniform. On many streams there is not 5 per cent of 
the water in Jidy that there is in June, so if you could only hold 
back the water that goes to waste one month and use it the next 
month you could double and treble and ({uadruple the acreage of 
land which it is impossible to successfully reclaim where j'ou have 
to depend entirely on the natural flow. Let us take the case of the 
Rio (4rande, which carries (;;,()0() cubic feet per second in May. The 
flow drops down to only 2,000 cul)ic feet per second in July. Now, 
the needs of July are just as great as the needs of May, or even 
greater. Take another case, where the May and June discharge is 
from 1:3,000 to 17, 0(H) cubic feet per second, dropping down below 2,000 
feet in July — only one-eighth as n'luch water in the stream in July as 
there is iu June. 

Now, that condition of aft'airs has resulted in lliis: People seeing 
an immense volume of water running to waste in June, Eastern capi- 
tal has been invested to make use of it, not realizing tliat it is not the 
flood discharge that measures the success of irrigation, but the low- 
water discharge, so that we have scores and hundreds of canals and 
thousands of farms where each year there is a sliortage of water, a 
greater or less loss of crops, and a great waste and an injurious use 
of water because of it. Let me illustrate that by the condition of 
affairs in the Salt River Valley. In the Salt River Valley in Arizona 
it is known that practically all the canals will luive a short water 
supply' in August. The result is that they pour all the water they 
can get into the soil early in the season, so as to create, as far as pos- 
sil)le, a sort of a local reservoir in their own land; but that is injurious 
to the land; it is a waste of the use of water if you are not in a posi- 
tion to use it to the best advantage. It does not produce the results, 
and then occasionally the shortage readies a point where even that 
sort of treatment does not prevent a loss of crops. 

Now, if you have to subject youi'self to the same vicissitudes of 
drought in an irrigated region that you have to where you depend on 
the clouds, so that the man having tlie ditches is just as subject to a 
loss of crops as the man who depends on the skies, irrigation can not 
maintain itself in competition with agriculture that depends on the 
rain, where your moisture is supplied free of cost. The very foun- 
dation of success in irrigation is that you shall have an ample water 



AKID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 91 

supply tlirongliout tlie season. The great need of reservoirs to-day 
is to take these streams where private enterprise has already built 
diversion works and where settlers are struggling- to maintain them- 
selves, and put them in a position to be j)rofital)le and prosperous. 
That means you are not to build ditches on streams, j'ou are to build 
reservoirs on streams where the ditches are already in existence, where 
a system is already in operation. 

Mr. MONDELL. In most instances that would also result in a com- 
plete system of storage. Most any stream in the lUiited States has 
enough water for new lands'? 

Mr. Mead. Yes; let iis take this case. Practically^ all the land that 
can be practically brought under cultivation to-day on the North 
Platte is the land that they can depend on getting water from the 
remaining portion here. It does not make any difference how much 
runs to waste; it is not safe to attemjit cultivation, because your crops 
will be started in the spring to be dried up in the summer. Now, -first 
supply the necessities of users and then the extent of further develop- 
ments will depend simply on the amount of storage 3'ou can provide 
for the interests of additional users, permitting a ver}- much larger 
increased use of the early floods. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. Would there ever be a possibility of ever 
storing a large per cent of that surplus ^^ ater; could you give us some 
idea, for instance, on the North Platte there, how much of that sur- 
plus might be stored? 

Mr. Mead. Each stream will depend on the opportunities for stor- 
ing. Those vary greatly. On some streams the opportunities will 
permit of a comi)lete utilization of the entire flow. On other streams 
this will not be possible. There are streams where you could utilize 
the entire supply, and there are many other streams where the attempt 
to answer this question would be merely a case of lack of definite 
information as to the size of storage works. 

Mr. Wilson. It is liardly likely the flood waters of the Platte would 
be stored? 

Mr. Mead. I think they could be; I think tliat is a stream that 
could. I think the Snake River could by impounding in Jackson 
Hole. That of itself now serves as a sort of a reservoir. 

Mr. Newlands. I wish to call j^our attention, Mr. Mead, to the 
fact that there is nothing to prevent the supply to existing ditches 
under this bill. 

Mr. Mead. I understand that; I nm simply explaining the situation. 

Mr. Newlands. I would like to call your attention to one proposi- 
tion. Assuming tliat you start with this reclamation fund, and the 
reclamation of the West depends on keeping that fund good and even 
increasing it, how would you, if you simply turned the water into the 
streams, ol)tain an increase of that fund? 

Mr. Mead. If you will pernut me to complete the discnssion I am 
making I will take that up later. The situation which confronts the 
(Tuvernment in taking up this matter it seems to me is this: That 
you can not build dams in these great rivers and then let the people 
build the canals without any interference with local inst it utions. You 
would not expect to Iniild a dam and get any revenue from it. These 
reservoirs will be located largely on streams where ditches are alreadj' 
in operation, where those ditches have certain rights under State laws, 
where there is a system of administration. In Colorado there are 
about 100 officers who raise and lower these head gates, so that the 
rights of the different proprietors of water under State laws are pro- 



92 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

teeted; in Wyoming- abont 40 or oO; in Nebraska tlie same number 
or a loss number. Now, if the Government ])nilds storage works, just 
as it would build dams, just as they Iniild docks as a means of regu- 
lating the flow of the stream and permitting a larger use, and make 
no attempt to charge, there comes no interference or conflict between 
what the Government is doing and what the State has already done; 
but if the Government makes the attempt to collect revenue and 
derive a return from this Avater in order to market its goods and col- 
lect its rental, it nuist ])e in a position to protect that water when it is 
turned into the cliannels of the natural streams, and that means 
they must have some authority to raise and lower those head gates in 
those streams. 

Mr. Newlands. I will ask you where a private individual now 
stores watei- is tliere not a law in most of the States by whicli he can 
deliver that stored water at any point on the stream that he wishes? 

Mr. Mead. And compel the State officers to regulate the head gates 
in accordance with itV 

Mr. Newlands. I do not know about the latter, but is there not a 
law winch gives the man a right to store water and the use of the river 
channel to carry it where he wishes':' And if tliat were so, would not 
that law protect the United States, if it was the owner of the stored 
water, the same as it would protect an iudiAidual? 

Mr. Mead. There is only one law. 

Mr. Newlands. There is such a law in Nevada. 

Mr. Mead. IJut Nevada has no officials to regulate the head gates. 
There is only ono State that has; that is Colorado. 

To go back. I have no ol)jection to the principle of I'entals, no 
objection to that at all. I think it would be perfectly proper if a 
State, considering water public property in a stream, should charge 
for it. It is not the lu'inciple of rentals, ])ut it is tlie question of work- 
ing out a system l)y which the Governmeut will collect its rentals 
without interference or disturbance of existing State rights tliat needs 
to be brought to your attention and needs to l)e carefully considered 
in any legislation on this matter. I am not saying that this can not 
be done, l)ut I am saying, and I want evei-y member of this committee 
to regard that as an essential and important IVatui'e of this legislation, 
that you do not want to enter on this legislati(ui without giving that 
matter careful consideration and working out some adequate and 
detinite plan. 

Mr. MoNDELL. That is, providing the committee proposes a charge? 

Mr. Mead. Yes. 

Mr. Newlands. Do you not think that things could be worked out 
by the Secretary of the Interior, with the assistance of the Geological 
Survej^ and the Agricultural Departnu'ut, better than Congress itself 
by rules and regulations? 

]Mr. Mead. I think it ought to be worked out before any legislation 
is enacted, l)efore you determine which of these two policies you adopt. 

Mr. King. Yet the ideal condition would be, in your opinion, would 
it not, that if the Government itself invests here for the purpose of 
creating these reservoirs and conserving the water, that they should 
get rid of the reservoirs as soon as pos.sible — turn them over to State 
control or to private individuals? 

Mr. Mead. Yes; I think so; if satisfied that the States had enacted 
laws that would satisfy the Government. 

In this nmtter of rental I fuUv auree with the idea embodied in Mr. 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 93 

Newlauds's bill, that the revenues arising by the provisions of this bill 
should go for the betterment of these States; that the disadvantaiies 
under which those people live, the drawbacks that nature has imposed 
on that country in this deficiency of moisture, entitle them to that 
consideration. They are entitled to it because the conditions of many 
of those States make aid of that kind necessary. 

The facts pointed out by the gentleman who spoke first, that Arizona 
has 54,000,000 acres of public lands and that these other States all 
have somewhere near like amounts, entitle those States to be benefited 
as far as possible by the transactions of the Government in public 
lands; because the State derives nothing whatever in the way of 
rentals and taxes from those public lands; they have to administer 
law and order, to maintain local sidf-government over empires in 
extent, the greater part of which belongs to the Government — a Gov- 
ernment that at the present time stands in the way of an alien land- 
lord, that makes no homes, and pays no taxes. That is a condition 
of affairs that makes me Indorse thoroughly the idea that whatever 
revenues there ai'e ought to go to the buildiiig of iri-igation works for 
the development of that countr}^ and the transfer of them from public 
to private hands. 

Regarding revenues anj^where, to depend on the operation of the 
homestead laAV we can not expect any continuous revenue running 
over a long period of years — that is, any adequate revenue for the 
work before us; but there are between 300,000,000 and 400,000,000 
acres of grazing lands, lands that never will be susceptible of home- 
stead entry, that can not be filed as homesteads now without a man 
jierjures himself — because you can not make a homestead out of them ; 
in many cases a horned toad can not live on them in their present con- 
dition, and it would take a township to support a settler and his family. 
I do not believe that land is going to be left forever in its present con- 
dition, that everj^body can use as he pleases, because there will be certain 
things in the future that are going to make the range stockman and 
the settlers that use it now as a free common, demand some protection 
and some settled policy regarding its occupation. If we begin the 
construction of irrigation works, even the crippled population it has 
will make the competition for that land so fierce that it is going to be 
a question of self-preservation and the maintenance of local peace 
that there be some provision dealing with the grazing lands as well 
as the other lands. Whatever is done, whethei* those lands are 
disposed of, whether they are leased, or whatever is done, every cent 
that comes from those should go into the irrigation fund. When you 
deal with that question you have opened up a source of revenue many 
times greater than anything we will get from the occupation of the 
land through the present land laws. So I believe for the next ten or 
fifteen years, even if we abandon the question of direct compensation, 
we would have a revenue large enough to enable the Government to 
carry on this development in a substantial measure from the proceeds 
of lands alone. 

(Thereupon, at 12 o'clock, the committee adjourned until 4 o'clock 
p.m.) 

Washington, D. C, February?, mn. 

The committee met at 4 o'clock x^- ni., Hon. Thomas H. Tongue in 
the chair. 

The Chairman. Mr. Maxwell is here, and as Professor Mead has 
not come in we might listen to Mr. Maxwell. 



04 AKID LANDS OB^ THE UNITED STATES. 



STATEMENT OF GEORGE H. MAXWELL, CHAIRMAN OF EXECUTIVE 
COMMITTEE OF NATIONAL IRRIGATION ASSOCIATION. 

Mr. 3[axwell. I wisli to speak of the Newlands bill, No. 14088. 
I think a g'ood name for that bill would l)e to call it the "omnibus 
bill." As we came in, Mi-. Chairman, you referred to this matter, and 
to the point that the Government luid expended during a x>ei'iod of 
years a large anuiunt of money for i^reliminary work along the lines 
of this irrigation matter, and it is undoubtedly true that after fifteen 
or twenty years of (Tovernment investigation we ai"e no further along 
than we were at the beginning, so far as the actual rechimation of the 
land is concerned. An immc^nse fund of valuable information has 
been developed, and the time is ripe for action. Undci' tliis bill to 
which T refer, the Government can begin action imnu'd lately, and I 
l)elieve along lines which remove every reasonable objection which 
has ever been raised to the Government undertaking the great Avork 
of bringing al)out the reclamation of the arid donuiin. 

The first i)oint which it seems to me is important in favor of the 
Newlands l>ill is that under it ever^^thing can be done which is sug- 
gested to be done by each of the other bills now l^efore this commit- 
tee. For instance, Mr. Wilson has a bill for the construction of the 
8an Carlos reservoir in Arizona. Thei'c is also an item of appi'opria- 
tion in the Indian bill of 1^100, ()()() to make further soundings to the 
bed rock and to segregate the land. If that item passes, that part is 
provided for, but if not, a reservoir could bo built under the New- 
lands l>ill without any further legislation. Mr. jVIondell has intro- 
duced a measure which i^rovides that the fund derived from the sale 
of public lands may l)e used for the survey and construction of irri- 
gation works. As I understand, it is not contemplated in his idea, 
oi" bill, that any of the moneys expended should be returned, and 
his bill does not provide for any consti'uction work, but merely for pre- 
liminary surveys. So that all that is provided for nndei- Mr. Mondell's 
bill can l)e done under Mr. Xewlands's l)ill, No. 14(188. 

Mr. MONDELL. My bill provides for a specific report, and of course 
auy (piestion as to what should be done — as to whether the Govern- 
ment should receive a return for its expenditures — would be a question 
which would be raised when the specific propositions came up. 

Mr. Maxwell. That would require further Congressional action 
under your l)ill. Everything that can be done, practically, under 
your bill can be done practically under Mr. Newlands's bill without 
further legislation. The l)ill to which especially my attention has 
l)een called is one of Judge IJarham's, providing for the complete 
investigation and survey of the arid donuiin. That bill is a thor- 
oughly well-considered ])ill to the point to which it goes, but it does 
not go to the point of allowing construction to begin. Under the 
Newlands bill the surveys provided for by Mr. Barham's bill can be 
made, and construction can be l)egun. 

Mr. Uarham. Is there a project now so completely examined and 
surveyed and estimated that the Secretary of the Interior could let a 
contract under this bill? 

Mr. Newlands. I understand that complete plans and surveys have 
lieen nuide by the Geological Survey, and those plans and surveys are 
now printed in the re})orts of the Geological Survey. I will ask Mr. 
Newell if that is not so. 

Mr. Newell. We have printed the plans and estinuites for several 



AKID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 95 

projects, two or three in Nevada and several in California; also the 
plans for the San Carlos dam, on Gila River, and those for the diver- 
sion of St. Mary River into the head of Milk River in Montana. These 
plans have been made for ascertaining- the cost; for actnal construc- 
tion additional details slionld be worked ont. For example, in con- 
nection with the San Carlos dam, on Gila River, we should uncover 
the foundations in order to make additional drawings and specifica- 
tions. When we have investigated the conditions there and settled 
on the exact position, we will be ready to go furtlier. 

Mr. MoNDELL. You want to investigate there as to the exact loca- 
tion of the dam? 

Mr. Newell. Yes, sir; it is a question of a few feet up or down the 
river. 

Mr. Barham. The plans and specifications are not complete? 

Mr. Newell. The $100,000 item which has just been passed for that 
purpose by the Senate in the Indian bill provides several things: To 
continue the investigation as to particular details, to acquire the dam 
site, and to ascertain what the benefits will be, as well as the cost, and 
to lay the scheme out in all its i-elations to develoi^ment of that part 
of the country. 

Mr. iVlAXWELL. What I intended to say was that under tliis bill 
which I have ])efore me, Mr. Newlands's bill, a report would be required 
to the Secretary of the Interior, with a complete plan, estimate, and 
survey, upon which he would determine whether he Mould order con- 
struction. I suppose that in making reports of that kind, any surveys 
heretofore made by the departments could be utilized without the 
necessity of doing new work. 

In the bill there is, first, the provision for setting aside the fund; 
second, the provision for preliminary surveys, plans, and estimates of 
cost; third, for the making of a report, through the Secretary of the 
Interior, showing all the details in reference totlie proposition; fourth, 
the power vested in the Secretary of the Interior to order the con- 
struction of certain works upon certain conditions, one of which is 
that no contract shall be let until the necessary funds are available. 
Another is that where lands are to be irrigated under any on'e of these 
systems, such lands shall be withdrawn from all other entry except 
entry under the homestead act, the idea being that in the absence of 
such i3ro vision the speculators would immediately jump in and locate 
scrip or make some other sort of speculative enti'ies, which is against 
tlie policy of this legislation, its object being really to create homes 
on the public domain, and to settle it. The act provides that where 
the construction is ordered the cost of the work shall return to the 
Treasury through the funds derived from the use of the Avater. This 
Avould make a charge u[)on the land. 

The great advantage of this bill is that there is not a section in the 
West, from Arizona to Idaho, and California, and Nebraska, whose 
needs are not fully provided, with the single exception that where 
conditions exist under which it is not feasible for the Federal Gov- 
ernment to build the canals and reservoirs and get its money back 
from the use of the water, under those conditions a further applica- 
tion must be made to Congress. There is absolutely nothing which 
you must do to accomplish a reclamation of the arid lands, which can 
and ought to be done by the Federal Government, that can not be 
done under this bill, with the exception of those projects in localities 
where the conditions are such that for some cause the Government 
can not build a reservoir and get its monev back from the use of the 



*,)() ARID LANDS OF TllJi UNITED STATES. 

water. It is lianlly a justi illustration with reference to the bill to take 
that condition as the only condition for consideration. 

There are a great multitude of places where the Federal Govern- 
ment can build reservoirs, and can build main-line canals, and can so 
connect the source and su^^ply of the water with the lands on which 
it is to be used that there is no possibility of complication coming 
about. It permits the Geological Survey, which of all the depart- 
ments of the Government is the proper department to make tliese 
investigations, to make them. If the Survey finds that the Govern- 
ment can ]>uild a reservoir and canal to the Government lands, and 
possibly also to intervening private lands, and that the enterprise is 
practicable, it can so report, and if there is such a place as that the 
Secretary of the IntiM'ior is authorized to go ahead. If the Geological 
Survey reports diflicultics. l)y reason of complications in regard to 
water rights, laws, or anything else, so that in that particular location 
the Federal Government could not get its money back, then an addi- 
tional application must be made to Congress. 

Mr. Barham. I wish you would explain to me the meaning of 
the sixth section of this bill, which says that "upon the completion 
of each storage or irrigation j^roject the cost thereof shall be ascer- 
tained, and the Secretary of the Interior shall prescribe such rules 
and regulations as to the prices of land 'entered or to be entered' and 
the right to the use of the water," and so forth. Now, that contem- 
plates the use of the water only upon public lands, does it not? 

Mr. Maxw^ell. I think not. "And the right to use the water pro- 
vided by such work" — I think that is intended to cover both private 
and public lands. 

Mr. Barham. How could you read it without "entered or to be en- 
tered " — to leave those out — and put the construction you had upon it? 

Mr. Maxwell. If there is any ambiguity there it should be reme- 
died, because there are places, and many of them, where there are 
intervening private lands, and the private lands and Government 
lands are together, like the squares on a checkerboard, and unless you 
can jirovide that the private land should have its share, and the Gov- 
ernment should ha^'e its share of the water, you would get into difti- 
culties about the distribution of the watci-. 

Mr. Newlands. Section G is intended to give to the Secretary of 
the Interior the power to make rules and regulations not only as to 
the prices of watei- but the prices of the land itself in case it should 
be regarded as advisable to put into the price of the land the cost of 
the enter])rise. whatever it might be, so as to get the entire cost out 
b}' a I'easonable price placed upon the land. The woi-ds "entered or 
to l)e entered" mean not only the entries to be made in the future as 
to the making of the contract, but the (entries made from the filing of 
the report u}) to the l)eginning of the conti-act, for it is declared in 
the preceding section that all lands entered after the filing of the 
report are to be stibject to the charges and rules made by this act. 

Mr. Barham. Sul>.ject to the entry of the land. What was in my 
mind was railroad land. Of course, we must treat that sul),ject. 

Mr. Newlands. This clause only applies to the price of the public 
land. It is provided that the price for watei' for use on the railroad 
lands and other lands in private ownership shall be sufficient to repay 
the cost of conservation. 

Mr. Maxwell. That is in clause 7. Between them it is provided 
that the right to use the water on the land is resfi-icted to SO acres — 
that is, no one landowner can have m!>re than 80 acres. That is 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 97 

intended to cover the conditions in Arizona to-day in tlie Salt River 
Valley, where settlers have gone in and taken up Government lands. 
Here will be a quarter section of Government land, and here is a quar- 
ter section which is settled, which has been taken up, the next is open. 
If it is possible for the Government to provide the water there and allow 
the settlers to have the water on tlieir land as well as giving- it to the 
Government land, it will not complicate matters at all. The advan- 
tage in tills bill is shown in a place like the Salt River Valley in Ari- 
zona, taking the Tonto Basin as an example. I use these examples to 
show that I am not theorizing. Suppose the Government should build 
the Tonto Basin reservoir. It will hold 8()O,(J0O acre-feet of water and 
it will irrigate a very considerable area of Government land, and also 
provide just what the people cultivating the little farn.is around Phoe- 
nix need to save them from dying out as they are doing now. They 
require a little water late in the season. The Geological Survey could 
go into that community, devise a plan whereby this water could be 
taken out and utilized by the community, and which would increase 
the area of the Government land irrigable and would turn the monej^ 
received back into the reclamation fund. You could say to those 
people, "Now, if you will make a proposition so that you can take 
this water from the Government as a cooperative scheme, or in any 
way that will avoid complication, we will build this reservoir." 

There are hundreds of places in the West to-day where, if the Gov- 
ernment Avould indicate its willingness to supply water to settlers — 
and to-day they have no possibility of getting Avater from private 
enterprise — they would make any desired conditions in the way of 
shaping their claims to water rights and methods of distribution so as 
to relieve the Federal Government of every possible complication. 
These difficulties suggested here are the results of the work of the 
student in the closet. You can go on the ground in every case and 
plan a way to avoid them. 

Mr. MONDELL. I would like to interrupt you there just a moment. 
I do not know that I am a student in a closet. My work has been in 
actual construction 

Mr. Maxwell. It has been in Wyoming, Mr. Mondell. 

Mr. Mondell. I don't know— I have constructed irrigation canals 
personally in several States and Territories, and I do not think I have 
ever been a closet student of this subject. But referring to the 
matter you have just suggested there, if it is a fact that in the places 
you have just referred to there is no questiou about the return from 
the building of these reservoirs either to the Government or the indi- 
vidual building the reservoir, in a case of that kind there is nothing 
to prevent the individual from going ahead and building those reser- 
voirs and getting a return from them, 

Mr. Maxwell. They have been trying for ten years to get private 
capital to build those reservoirs, and they have hoped against hope, 
and made trial after trial, for such a long time that they have now 
just about given up. 

Mr. Mondell. Then, if private enterprise, after carefully consider- 
ing it, has given it up, that means that it is not feasible, and it can 
not ])e made to pay. 

Mr. Maxwell. That is an important point and one which should 
be emi)hasized in this connection. Private capital can not conserve 
water so that it can be made to pa}-, and this is one of the strongest 
arguments whj^ the Government must take up the matter. It is rec- 
ti 10(3— 01 7 



98 AKID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ogiiizeil by all that the water must be conserved; that the reservoirs 
must be Ijiiilt, and large streams diverted if we are to make available 
the fertile but arid lands. Private enterprise has already made the 
experiment and has demonstrated that it will not pay from a financial 
standpoint; that is, as regards immediate profits and interest on bonds 
and stock. 

'J'he investor or speculator looks at these matters solely from the 
standpoint of profit, and not from that of the greatest good to the 
greatest number. If, for example, under a given project water can 
be conserved to supply 5()0,0()() acres with a net pi'ofit of 5 per cent on 
the original investment, or a similar system will reclaim only ;300,000 
acres, but yield a profit of s per cent on the investment, the capitalist 
will not hesitate to adopt the latter, although l)y so doing 2()0. 000 acres 
of good land are left sterile and opportunities for home-nutking on 
this land are forever destroyed. 

In the case of reclamation l)y the Government, however, the ques- 
tion of immediate profits and of a tempting interest return is not con- 
sidered. The matter of time, also, is not one always pressing; and 
if it is necessary to wait ten or even twenty years before all of the 
reclaimed land is disposed of, there is not the ever-threatening bank- 
I'uptcy, stich as is involved in a speculative enterprise, where the 
lands or conserved waters are not disposed of at once. 

When a corporation has undertaken such work, the funds raised for 
preliminary surveys and investigations are expected to l)e refunded, 
with interest, from a time antedating the survey. In this way the 
money invested for construction jniist nltimately pay interest fi'om a 
period preceding the laying of a stone. If for any cause the work is 
delayed or the settlers liecome discouraged and do not take up the 
land rapidly, the intei-est charge, running day and night, increases 
the cost, ami, as has been frequentl}^ the case, tlie Ijoudholders must 
step in and take the enterprise, reorganizing upon a different basis. 
These reorganizations are again discouraging to the settler and involve 
additional expense, and so these enterpi'ises, financially considered, 
have been failures, altliough of great benefit lo tlie country when con- 
sidered from other standi)oinls. 

In the case of Government coiistrncl ion, the conditions are far more 
simple. They are along the line of reclaiming tlie largest possil)le 
area of arid land at a eost commensurate with the ultimate value of 
the reclaimed hiiul, and with the probability of nltimate return of tlie 
cost without refenuice to interest on stock or l)onds. If ten or even 
twenty year-s are required for the gradual settlement of the country 
and the disposal of the water, there is no anxiety nor loss, since cx])e- 
rience demonsti-ates that the conserved watei' and the rechiinu^<l land 
is slowly l)ut steadily attaining a higher and highei- value. 

"While the interest charges are not considered on the funds thus 
invested, yet the Government is by no means the loser, as the indirect 
gain through the increase of population and of taxable propertj^ far 
more than com{)ensates for any interest charges. 

If a^ corporation could be put i]i the jjosition of tlie Government, as 
the owner of vast (quantities of land, with vital intei'est in the welfare 
and pi'osperity of the people, there could l)e no hesitation in consider- 
ing the reclamation of these lands as one of the best of l)usiness enter- 
prises; but with the existing condition of things under a democi-atic 
government the corporation can receive, not the multitude of indirect 
benefits, but only a profit along one narrow line. 

In the localities concerning which I have spoken they have been 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 99 

tryiDg for years to induce private capital to complete these reservoirs; 
but it is impossible to demonstrate liow private capital can receive 
an adequate return for the rislvS involved. There is no class of 
property which is considered more uncertain than irrigation bonds 
and stoclv, owing to the gigantic frauds which have been perpetrated 
within recent j^ears. Capital can not be induced to go into this work 
of conservation unless extraordinary profits can be shown, and these 
are not jjossible; even if they were, it would not be a matter of sound 
public policy to make of a public utility of this kind a speculation 
sucli as would load down settlers with inflated debts. 

The Chairman. Mr. Maxwell, are you going to remain in tlie city 
for some time? I ask l)ecause we have Mr. Mead here now, and it 
was our intention to hear from him to-day. 

Mr. oNIaxwell. Certainly, if Mr. Mead is here I prefer to give way 
to him. 

STATEMENT OF ELWOOD MEAD, IRRIGATION EXPERT OF THE 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

Mr. ]Mead. I have no desire to say anytliing more than I have 
already said to-day. 

Mr. Newlands. I suggest that it would l)e a more orderly proceed- 
ing to have Mr. Mead conclude his remarks, and then have Mr. Max- 
well take up tlie subject again. 

Mr. Mead. I really have notlung further to say. 

Mr. Newlands. Have you looked over this bill since our adjourn- 
ment? 

Mr. King. I would like to have Professor Mead discuss the best 
mode of reclaiming the arid land and at tlie least possible cost, and 
to have his opinion as to the most practicable and feasible scheme, 
and the one that will address itself to the judgment of Congress and 
be the best calculated to receive the suppoi-t of the people who do not 
live in tlie West. 

Mr. Mead. I should hesitate to undertake that Avithout preparing 
for it. It is a pretty big subject; I think it would take more time 
than I imagine the committee could devote to it this evening. I would 
be ver}^ glad to do that, but I should not want to undertake it and 
have to feel that I had dealt with it inadecpiately. 

Mr. King. I would like to ask you, do you think that a cession of 
all the arid lands in all of the States to the States would prove a solu- 
tion of this ([uestion? 

Mr. Moxdell. Why not the mineral lands also? 

Mr. King. AVell, we have here oidy jurisdiction of the public lands, 
and to open that subject would provoke a slorm of controversy lliat 
is not necessary to be raised yet. 

Mr. Mead. I would answer that in this way, that I believe a prop- 
erly guarded cession, which would prevent an improper use of these 
lands, would serve the same purpose as national legislation. It would 
have to be properly guarded legislation; legislation that would provide 
for a cession in trust ; and I would say further that no answer could 
be made that would not have to have some limitations. 

Mr. Newlands. What limitations? 

Mr. Mead. There are States in which a cession of the lands would 
answer every i^urpose. There are States in which irrigation is an 
im]iortant interest; there are States that have i>aid a great deal of 
attention to this matter and have laws for dealing with the matter. 



100 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

A cession of lands to tliose States, I believe, would be the most effect- 
ive and the simplest solution of the question. Tliere are other States 
wliere the irrigation is not of first importance that have no adequate 
in-igation laws, and where this interest would not receive proper con- 
sideration. A cession to those States without some adequate safe- 
guards would 1)6 improper. 

Mr. Reeder. Do you Ihink there are anyof these States that would 
handle the lauds better tliau llie Interior Department or the Govern- 
in entV 

Mr. Mead. Yes, sir. 

3Ir. Reeder. You think there are States tliat would handle the 
land to better advantage":' 

Ml'. Mead. Yes, sir. Do not understand me to say that they would 
handle them more honestly. 

Mr. Reeder. They handle them more eftlcientl}' on account of their 
jnac-hinery":' 

Mr. Mead. They would handle them Ix'tter. 

Mr. Newlands. T«ake several cases in Nevada and C'alifornia. 
Take the Truckee Valley and the Carson, where the lands irrigated 
ai'e in Nevada and the storage sites are in California. Do 3'ou think 
a cession of those lands to Nevada would enable the State of Nevada 
to conduct the necessary operations to reclaim those landsV 

Mr. Mead. Su})pose the Government goes into C-alifornia now and 
builds a reservoir, it will have to provide by legislation for the regu- 
ialion of the stream between those two Stales, and there will have to 
be legislation of that kind anyway, and it will require some additional 
rigislation. 

Mr. Newlands. There will be no regulation of the stream between 
those two States in the case of California and Nevada, because in Cal- 
ifornia the streams are dashing streams — swift mountain streams, you 
know — and there is no purpose to be accomplished by the regulation 
of flow there. 

Mr. Mead. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Barham. Do you not think that if Congress would pass a regu- 
lation for the reclaiming of lands in Nevada they could go into Cali- 
fornia and erect reservoirs? 

The Chairman. Nevada could not do it; I am discussing now 
simply the ceding of lands to Nevada. 

Mr. Mead. The question asked me was with respect to the manage- 
ment of the lands. 

Mr. Newlands. Yes, sir. 

]\Ir. Mead. What I was refeii'ing to in the case of the lands was 
this, that there is one class of lands at the present time that is not 
being managed at all, and that is the grazing lands. There are sev- 
eral hundred millions of acres of lands that never can be and never will 
be cultivated. They are too rough and liroken, and there is no water 
for them, and there is no management or any provision for manage- 
ment of them at the present time. I believe the States as a whole 
would deal with that question better than it is Ixdng dealt with now, 
l)Ut possibly some States would deal with it worse, because a bad man- 
agement is worse tlum no management. 

Mr. King. There is no management at all now':' 

Mr. Mead. No, sir. I think ultimately the Government will do 
something with all these lands. I do not think there is an}' prospect 
of the lands ever being turned over to the States if the Government 
goes into the work of reclamation. It will handle the lands. 

Mr. Barham. What I wanted to get at by my question is this: We 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 101 

have been trying to study this question for about six yeais here, and 
we were all originally of the oj)inion that the lands ought to go the 
States. 

Mr. Mead. Yes. 

Mr. Barham. Now, you take Nevada for an illustration. How 
would it be possible for Nevada to conserve the waters of California 
under an act passed in Nevada; and yet is it not possible and legiti- 
mate for the Congress of the United States to do that very thing? 

Mr. Mead. I think it is. 

Mr. Barham. How^ far would you go toward an irrigation of arid 
lands, that is, the conservation of the water, simply to conserve the 
waters in reservoirs? 

Mr. Mead. Do you mean by the Goverment? 

Mr. Barham. Yes, sir. 

Mr. 3IEAD. I believe it is proper for the Government to build dams 
in large rivers where the expense of diversion is at present prohibi- 
tive. I believe it is proper for the Government to l)uild storage reser- 
voirs at the head of streams to regulate the flood flow of those 
streams. 

Mr. Barham. Would you go further and carry the water upon the 
lands and distribute it? 

Mr. Mead. No, sir. 

Mr. Barham. You take it in mj^ State. 1 do not ask this for the 
purpose of defeating legislation, but for the purj)ose of being able to 
answer questions. You take it in my State, whei-e the waters are all 
appropriated over and and over again, and there is an existing law, 
if they are not, whereby they could l)e appropriated over and over 
again. You take any scheme in Calif(n-nia, and you reservoir a lot of 
water. That water of necessity would go into the hands of private 
corporations ov individuals. 

Mr. Mead. It ought not to. 

Mr. Barham. No, of course not. 

The Chairman. It would simply run down the stream in its accus- 
tomed course, if itw'ere turned into the stream. 

Mr. Barham. No, sir. Here are man^^ ditches in i)laces which do 
not carry half the water that they would or could use in the months 
that need irrigation. These corporations or individuals can not give 
their customers half as much water as they want. Suppose you con- 
serve all the waters pi-operly open to conservation. The appropria- 
tions in California made, or to be made, would take all the waters 
which it was possible to catch in reservoirs, and how is it possil)le to 
avoid the fact that you are going to enrich these corporations that 
have the ditches there now? 

Mr. Mead. In ttie first place, I do not believe that the right to water 
should l)elong to a comi)any or to a speculator, but these rights should 
attach to the lands which are irrigated. 

Mr. Barham. But here it is the other way. 

Mr. Mead. Yes, but the question you have to consider is whether 
you will have California amend its laws or whether you will have the 
Government enact laws for California. 

Mr. Barham. Of course, we could not ask California to amend her 
laws. These rights are all vested rights attached to the lands that 
have canals there. 

Mr. King. Does not your case suggest one of the almost insuper- 
able objections to the Government attempting distril>ution, where not 
only the high water but the low water has been taken iij)? 

Mr. Barham. I want to get at tlie facts, that is all. 



102 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Mr. Mead. It seems to me tliat if the Fe(lei'ul Goveriiiueiit should 
establish a stora,u,e reservoiv in the case you suggest, the first thing 
would be to determine the maximum a[)propriation in high water, and 
then tlie (Tovernment could only get anything above that maximum. 
For instance, if in high water they have appropriated there 1,000 
inches, the Govei'ument would have to keep on carrying down to them 
1,01 H) inches, and it would have to conserve water above that 1,000 
inches or else its work would benefit none but those who were already 
using that amount. And al)ove that 1,000 Indies the Government 
unquestionably, as an a|)propriator, could sell anything more than 
that which was available. 

Mr. IjARHAM. 'I'hey could sell the water? 

^,Ir. Mead. Yes, sir. 

Mr. r>ARHAM. How would you distribute the water? 

3Ir. Reeder. Could you not measure that water where it goes out 
of the j-eservoir, and is not there a system which permits that water 
to go out (h)wn that stream 5 or 10 miles, and the same amount to be 
taken out down there? Your weir tells you what amount you x^ut in, and 
then you go down Ix'low and take out the same amount, less evapora- 
tion. I)Ut when you come to a place whei-e you have appropriated 
more water than absolutely exists, that could not be don(^ in sueli 
a place unless the}' could get some scheme that would solve this ques- 
tion. If you can sa}^ to them, "If you can arrange this so that you 
people can pay for it, we will (h) it, but if you can not nuike such 
arrangements we will go to Nevada or sonunvhere else and do work 
there.'" 

The Chairman. It. seems to me those iilaces where they have appro- 
priated the complete amount of water, where it is done by corpora- 
tions, as I uiulerstand it is done in California, it strikes me that those 
are good places to let these corporations build their own storage 
reservoirs. 

Mr. Maxweel. This bill (h)es not really have any application to 
the interior valleys of California. It does not apply there, l)ut there 
are immense regions where it will be the salvation of the people. 

Mr. liARHAM. Oh, well, I have projects in my own State, plenty of 
them. Foi" instance, there is one for running a tunnel through to 
Willow Slough, I Ix'lieve. 

Mr. Maxwell. That is a place where tliis bill would work to a 
charm. 

Mr. Mead. It does not make any dift'erence what l)ill you pass, 
whenever it goes into operation you ai'e going to run into that <[ues- 
tion of whether ,^'ou are going to recognize the right of each State to 
distril)ute water in accordance with estal)!ished laws and customs, or 
Aviiether the Government is going to assume the i-esponsibility on this 
;\iiole ([uestion, if it does not recognize State rights. 

.Mr. King. Pardon the interruption, but do you not think that we 
have got to recognize State rights, and the laws of the sovereign 
Slates, wherever we go upon a stream where appropriations have been 
made; and the only jilaces where the Federal Government would 
assume sui)reme control would l)e where Ihere are no appropi-iations? 

Mr. Mead. I see no objection to the altei-native proi>osed a moment 
ago, that this Government should establisii certain conditions upon 
which it would appropriate funds. 

Ml'. KiX(4. I wish to be pei-fectly frank with you, and I wish to say 
tliat I should oppose any bill, I do not care how beneficial to my State 
or any other State, whicii seeks to abrogate tliei'ights of the States to 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 103 

control their own regulations and rights with relation to the distribu- 
tion of water. 

Mr. Newlands. This bill especially preserves all those rights. 

Mr. Phillips. How far should the National Government go in the 
conservation of water in opposition to State laws, or where should 
they stop? 

Mr. Mead. I see no objection to the General Government passing 
an act to provide that all the water which is rendered available should 
attach to the land irrigated ; that there should be no charge for the 
distribution except a carrier charge, and the right of appropriating 
those waters for speculative purposes should not be recognized; and 
I see no reason why every State should not enact a law of that kind, 
Tlie Government required tlie States to provide certain guaranties in 
connection with the Carey Act. The States had to pass satisfactory 
laws, laws that were approved by the Secretary of the Interior, l)efor*e 
they could undertake to handle that donation. The situation you 
[Mr. Barham] refer to in connection with certain of the proposed res- 
ervoirs in your State is familiar to me. I visited the stream you speak 
of several" times, and there are three or four abandoned ditches, and 
the single ditch in operation was only diverting about one-quarter of 
the water of that stream, and the rest was all going to wjiste, simply 
because of litigation. Parties or corporations have l)een seeking to 
establish control for speculative purposes, and tliey have tied up the 
use of that stream almost entirely by litigation. Tlie first step in irri- 
gation development is to get just and effective State legislation. But 
the difficulties that the States have had in enacting proper and suffi- 
cient State laws show the impending difficulties that Congress would 
encounter if it undertook this work. 

Mr. Mondell. Do you not think there is a field in which tlie Gov- 
ernment could operate in which it would not interfer(» at all with the 
State, or the State intcn-fere with those operations. 

Mr. Mead. Certainly. I think some works are of such magnitude 
and cost and their benefits extend over such vast areas that the Gov- 
ernment is the only agency now equipped to undei-takc them. All 
storage works on the heads of streams should remain public works. 
They'should not be pi-ivate works even if the private parties were 
willing to build them. 

]Mr."MoNDELL. Suppose that Congress should decide to enter upon 
a system of construction of storage reservoirs, and of those only, and 
should also determine that it wo'uld not enter upon a scheme unless 
some way of receiving compensation for the project in, say, ten years, 
either l)y means of tlie land or of the water, could be arranged 

Mr. Mead. Yes? 

Mr. Mondell (continuing). What plan would you suggest of com- 
pensation? 

The Chairman. Perhaps Mr. Mead has not considered that (luestiou. 

Mr. Mondell. T think we want to have the professoi' outline his 
ideas of what national legislation ought to be passed and what the 
General Government ouglit to do in the way of legislation. Probably 
the professor has thought out something on that line, and I would be 
glad to have any suggestions in that direction. AVhat would you think 
is the proper field for the General Government to work in— what it 
ought to do? 

Mr. Mead. Just as a prelude to that statement let me say, in con- 
nection with Mr. Newlands's (luestion, that I do not believe the Gov- 
ernment ought to undertake tlmt sort of work with the idea of getting 



104 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

a direct compensation until it liad determined first whether it was 
willing to assume control of the streams and regulate the head gates 
of existing ditches and collect its revenues eitlier from the water or 
the land. If it decides it does not want to do it, then it should wait 
until the State makes tlie laws that would insure the collection of 
these rents and their transfer to the Government. 

Mr. Barham. We ought first to find out the facts in each particular 
l^roject and then legislate for that particular project? 

Mr. Mead. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Barham. That is my idea. 

Mr. Mead. Now, I think that the Government can appropriately 
begin with the construction of storage reservoirs, Ijecause they are 
needed on a great many streams to supply the deficiencies of those 
streams, and as a means of furtlier extending the reclamation of the 
cultivated area or the reclamation of public lands l)y permitting a 
larger use of the flood waters tliat now run to waste early in tlie sea- 
son. The storage works on tlie head waters of streams are works 
that in the first place should not be built as private works but as 
public works, for if they are l)uilt as private enterprises the owner 
of a reservoir has an opportunity in times of necessity to levy almost 
any exactions he chooses and which the necessities of the farmer 
will compel him to pay. Witliout the protection afforded by public 
control of streams the owner of a private reservoir who must turn his 
supply into the stream Avill often have difficnlty in delivering water 
to the people who purchase it, so that with i^rivate ownership distri- 
bution must l)e protected at public cost, otherwise tliere is the danger 
that the reservoir owner would not make anything. These works 
ought to be public works, and they ought to be built as an aid to the 
improvement of the country. 

This is a work that the Government can appropriately enter upon 
at this time, and if the Governmen-t builds them simply as a metliod 
of utiliznig our wasted resources and promoting the public welfare it 
can appro})riately charge nothing foi' the water, relying on getting 
its compensation in other directions. That does not interfere with 
development by in-ivate entei'prise or with the operation of State laws. 
Tlie Government can say that that water shall not belong to any 
speculative owner, but shall belong to the States, and can provide 
that the States shall be required to make laws for its distribution. 
Some of the States would not require any additional legislation, for 
they alread}^ have it. If the Government charges for it, it must then 
re(iuire that the States sliall set in operation suitable machinery for 
collecting the charges for the water from tliose reservoirs, or it must 
go on the stream and collect them for itself. Tliere are only the two 
alternatives. Take almost any instance I know of, and unless j'ou 
have some machinery, some plan under which public ofticials having 
the law at their backs can raise or lower head gates, there will never 
be certabity or peace in the distril>ution of water stored with the pub- 
lic funds. This feature must be considered in any legislation that 
provides for a return of the money expended on reservoirs. 

Mr. Xewlands. Under tliis bill the Secretary of the Interior could 
refuse to enter upon a project until some method of compensation 
was secured, or the State itself made laws insuring collection, could 
lie not? He could do that as part of the rules and regulations? 

Mr. Mead. He could do this; and could lie not, on the other liand, 
if he saw fit, build a reservoir in a State like Colorado, which has a 
State engineer and water commissioners, and theii put his own agents 
on that stream and make regulations? 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 105 

Mi\ Newlands. I should think not. This law recognizes the laws 
of the States in regard to the appropriation and diversion of water, and 
the United States, in its capacity as a water appropriator, would stand 
in the same j)lace as any citizen. I should certainly expect the Gov- 
ernment, however, before it entered upon a project — and I think a 
business man like the present Secretary of the Interior would certainly 
take care of that — I should certainly expect that before he entered 
upon the project at all he would have some method devised, either 
by State laws or by arrangements with the people who had already 
occupied the lands, and had ditches along the river, by which he 
would have comiDensation. That would be simply a business arrange- 
ment. 

Mr. Mead. Any legislation which stimulates the establishment of 
administrative laws by the States is worth far more than the land 
reclaimed by any storage or other work. 

Mr. Reeder. We have either to take these appropriations as dona- 
tions, or we have to take them with the hope of returning them to 
the Government. Now, I am very much in favor of the Government 
simply building the reservoirs, but I do not believe that we have got 
to the place where Congress will do that. But if Congress sees there 
are certain funds that come from those regions, and which are avail- 
able for use in the work of irrigation, I think they will let us use them, 
with the provision for a return, and I prefer to do the thing in that 
way rather than not to do it at all. 

Mr. Newlands. The view of the average business man in the East 
in this matter is this: "You propose to reclaim 75,000,000 acres of 
land which is worthless now; will it be worth anything to you after 
the reservoirs are built and the rivers maintained at an average flow?" 
You answer, "Yes." "How much?" " From 81 to $10 witliout the 
irrigating ditches, even in its present desert state, with the chanco 
of getting water out of a river when reservoired." They Avill sa}^ 
"\Vell, if this woi-k raises the land to that additional value, it sug- 
gests to us that there should be some method by which we will get the 
money back, and by which the same money can be used ovei- and over 
again in making water available for the reclamation of other lands." 
Now, the purpose of this legislation is to make the water available 
for that purpose under such rules as the Secretary of the Interior may 
provide, and I assume that he will study carefully every project, and 
look particularly to the compensatory paj't of it, and see to it that 
either the local regulations and agreements or the existing laws of the 
States present a method of securing compensation. 

Mr. Barham. I would like to ask one more question, and that is, if 
in your opinion the Gila River is in such a position now that it could 
be taken charge of by the Government of the United States under 
some such project as has been talked of here. Have you sufficient data 
so that the Government could go to work on that project and demon- 
strate to the country what can be done? 

Mr. Wilson, of Arizona, has a bill pending here for that work. 

Mr. Mead. I have no personal acijuaintance with tlie (4ila River. 
Mr. Newell can answer that. 

Mr. Newell. In my opinion the matter is in a condition which 
should be handled along the lines of the Indian bill, continuing the 
detailed surveys to ascertain all of the facts with the greatest care to 
ascertain the benefits to be derived and the cost of the work, and to 
actually begin work in the laying of the foundations as soon as the 
minor matter of shifting up or down the channel a few feet is 
determined. 



!()(> ARID LANDS ( »F THE UNITED STATES. 

Mr. Barham. Have you niaile tliese surveys and examinatious suf- 
ficiently, so that you could at once proceed with a contract for putting 
in a portion of the foundation, at least? 

Mr. Keavell. In reply to that I would say that a provision was 
carefidly drawn and inserted in the Indian l)ill covering all these 
features. Now, if Congress is willing, the work can be begun at once 
an<l pushed through to a successful completion as rapidly as the funds 
are forthcoming. 

Mr. Wilson, of Arizona. Has the amount — that is, the cost of the 
structure — been determined'-' 

Mr. Newell. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Wilson, of Arizona. That can ])e made a complete work for 
the amount already flgured out, as to the cost? 

Mr. Newell. Yes, sir. The cost has been estinuited upon that by 
two of the best known men in this country, Mr. J. J>. Lippincott, of 
Los Angeles, and Mr. James D. Schuyler, who was engineer of the 
Sweetwater an<l the Hemet dams, so that tliere would be no liesitation 
aliout building these structures immediately. Tliere are minor details 
wliich should be carefully considered after knowing the foundations. 

^Ir. Barhaai. Do von kn(»w of anv reason whv we should not pass 
the bill of ]\Ir. Wilson? 

Mv. Newell. No, sir. 

Mr. Kin(t. I would like to ask some (questions of Mr. Newlands. I 
wish to preface tlie questions I ask Mr. Newlands by saying that it 
seems to me, in order to stand any show of getting legislation on the 
lines proposed in this bill, we liave got to provide for comix'nsation; 
and I do not see any reason why men who can goon the public domain 
ami take up the land after the Government has gone to a big expense 
and brought the water right to their doors, ought not to be willing to 
])ay for it. Homesteaders now have to pay $45 and 650 an acre for 
every acre of water they get. Now, if the (4overnment pays a large 
proportion of this — of course it will not paj' for all of it; private canals 
and lateral ditches will be dug by private enterprise — but if the Gov- 
ernment pays a lai'ge proportion f)f the cost incident to the matter, I 
see no reason why they should not pay the Government for the value 
of the water obtained, and thereby increase this fund, which is con- 
stantly l)eing diminislied now, foi' the prosecution of further schemes. 

I want to ask Mr. Newlands when, in his opinion, assuming that the 
Government entei's upon this scheme of I'eclamation, can the Govern- 
ment safely withdraw from the Stat<' and leave to the State the oper- 
ation of a reservoir constructed by the (-Jovei'nment? 

Mr. Newlands. As soon as it receives compensation. 

Mr. King. Supjiose a i-eservoir is constructed capable of irrigating 
1(H»,<H)0 acres of land, and 5(i,000 acres of that water are sold, leaving 
50,(100 acres unsold. How would you unite the conflicting interests 
there for tlie purpose of governing and controlling the water, and how 
would you control the water? Would you have some representative of 
the (Government there in the State taking charge of this reservoir, and 
trxing 1o cooperate, as by a soi't of an inN'oluntary partnership, with 
the other pei'sons to whom you had alienated it? 

]\Ir. Newlands. I should think that so far as existing occupants 
are concerned, having existing ditches and partial reclamation, but 
witliout a snfficieiu-y of water, the Secretary of the Interior could 
make ai-rangements with that acreage to supply them with so much 
watei-, and fix it in the shape of water-rights appurtenant to the land 
irriu'ated. Now. we will assume that a man owninu' SO acres of land 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 107 

has sufficient flood waters to furnish liim with a foot of water all over 
his land, and he needs (i inches more durin.u' the period of drought. 
Rules and regulations should be provided for by the Secretary of the 
Interior so as to fix the price of that (J inches, and he should make it 
payable in annual installments, ten annual installments, sa}", and he 
would very likely even go further and make it a lien upon the land. 
But I think all that would be a matter of rule and regulations. Now, 
suppose besides these settlements there are existing public lands that 
are incapable of reclamation under existing conditions. Their value 
would be very much greater by reason of the fact that the flow of 
the stream would be much greater and woidd be pro^^erly regulated. 
Now, the Secretary of the Interior could make a regulation that from 
-i5l to $5 an acre should be paid in ten annual installments, say for 
the land itself, leaving it to a nmn to arrange for the carriage of it 
through existing ditches. 

Mr. King. Does it not look to you like tliere would be an enforced 
partnership between the State and individuals and the Government 
which would estal)lish more or less a system of paternalistic land- 
lordism? 

Mr. New^lands. No, sir. I think the title to both land and water 
would gradually drift out of the Government, and I think instead of 
perpetuating the ownership of land it would have a teudencj' in exactly 
the opposite direction, for the Government will be constantly parting 
with its rights, both in land and water, and in the end the control of 
the reservoirs and irrigation works can be Anally turned over to the 
homesteaders. I have not provided for such turning over in this bill. 
Mr. Mead suggested that it would ])e best to turn over the reservoirs 
to the States. That is all very well if the reservoir is in the same 
State as the land to be irrigated and reclaimed. IJut suppose such a 
case as that in Nevada, where these three rivers, whose reservoirs will 
l)e in Galifornia, iri-igate lands in Nevada. Nevada could not admin- 
ister a reservoir in California. So I left that out completely, believ- 
ing that the experiejice of operation under this act would make 
apparent some method by which that ({uestion could be properly 
handled. 

Mr. Reeder. Do you not think that the homesteader and the Gov- 
ernment have already gone into a i^artnership, and that until the 
homesteader perfects his title that partnership does not cease to exist 
until the final papers are made out':' 

Mr. King. There is no partnership. The Government does not 
control his crops or his conduct. He is not renting anything. They 
are in the relation of vendor and vendee. 

Mr. Newlands. Yes, and that would he the relation here. 

Mr. Mead. I would like to add one n\ore word. The discussion of 
Mr. King and Mr. Newlands has suggested to me a little further elab- 
oration of my answer to this committee a moment ago about legislation. 
I believe that States which have good laws and proper institutions, if 
they had the lands they could handle this nmtter l»etter than Congress 
can, looking simply at their internal interests and ignoring this ques- 
tion of interstate waters. I believe there are States where they are 
not equipped to do anything with this question, with either the laud 
or water, under present laws, and there must be, inevitably, better 
State water laws in the future, or the interests of irrigation will be 
seriously jeopardized; and I believe that in those States one of two 
alternatives must be accepted — either Congress must insist on ade- 
quate legislation previous to appropriating money to help them, or 



108 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

it must enact laws of its own and take control there, because there 
is absolutely no provision whatever in many of these Western States 
by which there could be any effective distribution of stored water. 
There is now no orderly or sj^stematic distril)ution of the water of the 
streams, and one of two policies should be adopted by the Government 
in this matter — either to put pressure on the States to enact wise laws, 
and then distribute the water under those laws, or else Congress to 
take control itself. 

Mr. Newlands. Would you suggest that a provision be put in 
this bill similar to the provision in the Carey Act, compelling the 
States to pass legislation upon this subject that will be satisfactory 
to the Secretary of the Interior? 

Mr. Mead. I b^dieve that would be a wise provision, and a helpful 
provision to the whole Western country. It would stimulate interest 
and action in this matter. There are a number of provisions in Mr. 
Newland's l)ill that ought to be incorporated in State laws. They are 
entirely right. The provision for small acreage and the provision for 
prevention of speculative ownership of water are wise and proper, 
and I see no reason why there should not be properly inserted in this 
legislation that the States should eiuict provisi(uis for the orderly 
distribution of the waters of the streams and for the collection of the 
money under State laws, and guaranteeing its payment to the Secre- 
tary of the Interior as a condition precedent to receiving aid. That 
has been done in legislation making donations to States before. 

Thereupon, at 5 o'clock p. m., the committee adjourned until Satur- 
day, February 'J, 11)01, at 11 o'clock a. m. 



Washington, D. C, February 9, 1901. 

The committee met, Hon. Thomas II. Tongue in the chair. 

The Chairman. We would like to hear from Mr. Maxwell in con- 
tinuation of the discussion of the practical)ility of the Government 
constructing works for the reclamation of the arid lands. 

STATEMENT OF GEORGE H. MAXWELL, CHAIRMAN OF EXECUTIVE 
COMMITTEE OF NATIONAL IRRIGATION ASSOCIATION. 

Mr. ^Maxwell. At the last meeting of this committee particular 
attention was given to the fact that tliere are many places where the 
reclamation of arid land will be involved more or less with the control 
of water now used in i^art for irrigation. Undue emplmsis was, in 
my opinion, placed upon this matter, as it is not an insuperable objec- 
tion, nor one which can not be removed by the application of a few 
broad principles. This may well be laid aside in favor of simpler 
and commoner cases, where the Government, as the owner of the arid 
lands, can reclaim vast areas without complicacy with established 
rights. It is better to take up these siiDpler casey first and to leave 
the doubtful matters for solution. In other words the bill under dis- 
cussion does not purport to deal with the intricacies brought ui), but 
rather to apply to the great need of the general reclamation of the 
West. If we diverge from this central idea to discuss special cases 
we shall soon l)ecome involved in endless side issues. 
• There are locations wliere the Government can build these irrigation 
works, and wliere they will be remunerative and profitable as a busi- 
ness proposition to the Government, although, of course, there are 



AEID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 109 

other reasons wliy the Government would be ])enefited, even though 
it made no direct profit. 

Referring, for exampk^ to tlie item in the Indian appropriation bill 
for the San Carlos dam in Arizona, the area of public lands reclaim- 
able is 100,000 acres, the exact capacity of the reservoir being 241,000 
acre-feet, and the public land irrigable therefrom would have a value 
of 85,0o4,900. Tlius, if the Government went into this for a profit, 
it would produce a value of more than twice the amount of the 
investment. 

Mr. Newlands. Does the estimate cover the cost of all the divert- 
ing ditches that are uecessarj^ to reclaim the land or simply a 
reservoirV 

Mr. Maxwell. It covers the main canal also. The entire cost of 
the project, as I i-ecall it, is something inside of $2,000,000. The cost 
of the reservoii', I think, is estimated at $1,030,000, but I have made 
a liberal estimate. The point is that if tlie Government wanted to go 
into it as a profitable enterprise it could make a profit; but, in my 
judgment, the Government does not want to do that. What the Gov- 
ernment wants to do is to create homes on the public domain, and if 
it gets this money back, that is all it needs. The remarkable results 
that would be recorded in the West can be illustrated by additional 
facts with reference to the reasons which are applicable to all the 
other arid States and Territories. 

In my discussion I have followed an entirely different line from that 
suggested by Mr. Mead. The difficulties witli Mr. Mead's conception 
of the subject, in my judgment, are that he illustrates his renmrks by 
conditions where complications exist which would pi-event tlie satis- 
factory operation of this bill; but we must bear in mind that there 
are estimated to be in the neighliorhood of 100,000,000 acres of lands 
in the West which are capable of reclamation — Government lands; 
that those lands are scattered throughout a multitude of localities, 
each locality having certain specific local conditions, and you can find 
locality after locality, you can find land enough in the West which 
the Governmeiit could reclaim under the Newlands bill to keep the 
Government at work ten years with all the money that would come in 
under that bill v>'ithout running counter to one single objection Mr. 
Mead has raised. Take the results of this policy. There are, I appre- 
he'nd, in Arizona at least, 5,000,000 acres of laud which could be 
reclaimed. I take that as a round sum for illustration. I have heard 
it estimated as high as 12,000,000 acres. I have heard Hon. Binger 
Hermann, in an address at a banquet at Phoenix, Ariz., five years ago, 

1 think, estimate the number of acres as 12,000,000. But take 
5,000,000 acres, reclaiming it on tlie average cost per acre given, and 
dispose of it at ^20 an acre, and what have you doneV You have cre- 
ated out of an absolute desert, which is worthless to-day, either to the 
State or the National Government, property worth $100,000,000. Just 
think of it! That can be done in Arizona, a Territory where the Gov- 
ernment owns the land and water and where tlier<' are no complica- 
tions. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. And the Government also lias entire con- 
trol of legislation? 

Mr. Maxwell. Yes. What does that mean to the Territoiy? At 

2 per cent on the hundred that would give Arizona an annual income 
which would support the Territory. The increase which will pile uj) 
when you begin to take into consideration the values created by the 
building of irrigation works in the West dazzles imagination. 



110 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The Chairman. Let me ask you one (question riglit tliere, if you 
please. In estimating the amount of acres in Arizona at 5,000,000, do 
you mean tliat to embrace tlie total arid-land area or the laud that 
could be fairly reclaimed? 

Mr. Maxwell. The irrigable land only, the land that is reclaim- 
able. From the standpoint of the Territory of Arizona you have 
practically created a commouwealth. You have created a property 
there that will be a basis for State taxation, and so on for all time. 
You have created it out of nothing. The Government has got its 
money back. What else has the (Tovernment got? 

At the last session of Congress tliis Government appropriated, I 
think, #710,000,000, or something over tliat. Gur population is some- 
thing like 70,000,000. In other words, to make the illustration, if we 
do appropriate !ii^700,O00,000, we would have appropriated and expended 
$10,000,000 for every 1,000,000 of population. And yet no man has 
felt the l)urden. Now, what does tliat nu-an? If it has put 5,000,000 
acres of this land under cultivation in Arizona, it means a population 
at the very least of 1,000,000 ; but that is low, l)ecause there are sections 
in existence in Utah and California to-day whei-e the average population 
on irrigated land is as many as 1 per acre. Tliere is a saving to the Gov- 
ernment of 61 0,000,000 per year on the same basis of population. If the 
population in this case was simply douliledyou coukl collect twice as 
much revenue, or you could collect half as much from each and have 
the same as now. 

]Mr. Kay. How do you figure out so much [n'otit to the Government? 
A day or two ago I attended a meeting here, and one of the speakers 
adverted to the fact that corporations, at- the most desirable points 
and where most feasible, had engaged in this work of buiding reser- 
voirs and supi)lying water for irrigation, and had abandoned it. He 
stated that such reclamation work,could not 1 )e carried on because it had 
proved so costly and unremunerative. Now, if the corporations can 
not do it, how can the Federal Government take the same land and 
cany on tliis work and be expected to get great retui'us from it? 

Mr. ^Maxwell. I would like to say, Mr. Kay, that in my discussion 
here I had not intended to convey the idea that the CTOvernment can 
carry out this geiKM'al plan and make a profit on each and every proj- 
ect. ' The pian 1 liave been discussing is based on the idea that the 
Government shall get its money 1>ack from eacli project, with the 
l»eiiefit to go to the public from the perjietual basis of taxation 
created. That is the l)enefit to the State, the creating of a popula- 
tion from which the Government can perpetually draw revenue. 
That is sufticient to warrant the Government in reclaiming this prop- 
erty and adding it to our domain. That the Federal Government can 
do that when corporations, or even the States, can not do it grows out 
of several reasons. The advocates of the theory of State cession were 
insistent in Congress fm- many years before tlie Carey Act. Finallj^ 
the Carey Act was passed as a basis of compromise. The Carey Act 
permits each State to take 1,000,000 acres and reclaim it without cost, 
provided tlie}- subdivided it among homesteaders. Now, if the State 
had the money in tlie Treasury to reclaim that land under the Cai-ey 
Act for the very lowest price which it could l)e done, if they could let 
a contract for spot cash i^ayable whenever Hie work was done, I think 
that, provided the administration was wise and honest, the State 
could do it; Init in the first place, the difficulty is that the adminis- 
tration of tliese matters in the States has not l)een satisfactory; it has 
fallen into the hands of incompetent men, to say the least; and more 



AEID LANDS OF THE LTiSTITED STATES. Ill 

than that, the States have not the money and can not raise it. Take 
the Territory of Arizona. It lias no fnnds; it can not bond tlie Ter- 
ritory for this great worlc. If it conld l^orrow the money it couhl not 
pay the interest, because tlie proceeds from the disposition of the 
land could not come in until the settler had gone on the land and 
produced a crop, and lived there a number of j^ears. Yes, not only 
that; even in the States where they have the resources which would 
enable them to raise the mouej" b}' direct taxation or by issuing State 
bonds and entering upon this work, they have refused to do it. In 
California the people have taken the ground that the Government 
should reclaim these lands, and they have declined to enter upon the 
project. In Wyoming and jNIontana, where they have attempted to 
reclaim lands under the Carey Act, they have not assumed the obliga- 
tion of seeing it done successfully. They have turned it over to land 
speculators and allowed them to take the contract and take bonds for 
their pay secured on the lands. They can not sell those bonds for 
cash. The law theoretically contemplates that they shall sell the 
bonds and put the money into the State treasury and then let the con- 
tract; but they do not do it. I investigated this last summer and I 
found the law permitted a bonded debt of ^12 an acre upon that land. 
They were not able to sell the bonds. They contracted with men who 
undertook to dig the ditches at the highest price they could give them, 
which was yl2 an acre. The result is going to be in every such case, 
if they do reclaim the land the men who hold the bonds will foreclose 
and get the land. Governor J. K. Toole, of Montana, last month said 
that nnder the Carey Act there had been quite a number of enter- 
prises started in Montana, but not one acre of land has ever been 
reclaimed. 

In the last report of the Montana State commission having the mat- 
ter in charge it is stated that if the bonds could l)e sold and cash 
obtained the lands could be reclaimed ; but this could not be done, 
and, as a consequence, the whole matter has l)een declared a failure. 

The so-called Care.y Act is to be found in section 4 of the act of August 
18, 1894, entitled "An act making appropriations for sundry civil 
expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending .Tune oO, 1895, 
and for other purposes" (28 Stat., 372-422), authorizing the Secretary 
of the Interior, with the approval of the President, to contract and 
agree to patent to the States of Washington, Oregon, California, 
Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South 
Dakota, and Utah, or any other States, as provided in the act, in 
which may be found desert lands, not to exceed 1,()00,000 acres of 
such lands to each State, under certain conditions. 

The text of the act is as follows: 

JSEc. 4. That to Mid the public-land States in the reclamation of the desert lands 
therein, and the settlement, cultivation, and sale thereof in small tracts to actual 
settlers, the Secretary of the Interior, with the approval of the President, be, and 
hereby is, authorized and emjiowered, upon proper application of the State, to 
contract and agree from time to time with each of the States in which there may 
be situated desert lands as defined by the act entitled --An act to provide for the 
sale of desert land in certain States and Territories, "'approved March thu'd. eighteen 
hundred and seventy-seven, and the act amendatory thereof, approved March 
third, eighteen hundred and ninetv-one, binding the United States to donate, 
grant, and pitent to the State free of cost for survey or price such desert lands, 
not exceeding one million acres in each State, as the State may cause to be irri- 
gated, reclaimed, occupied, and not less than twenty acres of each one-hundred- 
and-sixty-acre tract cultivated by actual settlers, within ten years next after the 
passage of this act, as thoroughly as is required of citizens who may enter under 
[he said desert-land law. 



112 ARID LANDS OF THE UNITP:D STATES. 

Before the application of any State is allowed or anj^ contract or agreement is 
executed or any segregation of any of the land from the public domain is ordered 
by the Secretary of the Interior, the State shall file a map of the said land proposed 
to bt; irrigated which shall exhihit a plan showing the mode f the contemplated 
irrigation ami w^iich plan shall be sufficient to thoroughly irrigate and reclaim 
said land and prepare it to raise ordinar^y agricultural croi s and shall also show 
the source of tlie water to be used for irrigation and reclamation, and the Secre- 
tary of the Interior may make necessary regulations for the reservation ot the 
lands applied for liy the States to date from the date of the filing of the map and 
plan of irrigation, but such reservation shall be of no force whatever if such map 
and plan of irrigation shall not be approved. That any State contracting under 
this section is hereby authorized to make all necessary contracts to cause the said 
lands to be reclaimed and to induce their settlement and cultivation in accordance 
with and subject to the provisions of this section: hut the State shall not be 
authorized to lease any of said lands or to use or dispose of the same in any way 
whatever, except to secure their reclamation, cultivation, and settlement. 

As fast as any State may furnish satisfactory proof, according to such rules and 
regulations as may be prescrilied by the Secretary of the Interior, that any of said 
lands are irrigated, reclaimed, and occupied by actual settlers, i)atents shall be 
issued to the State or itsas.signs for said lands so reclaimed and settled: Piovidi'd, 
That said States shall not sell or dispose of more than one hundred and sixty aci'es 
of said lands to any one person, and any surplus of money derived by any State from 
the sale of said lands in excess of the cost of their reclamation sliall be held as a 
trust fund for and be applied to the reclamation of other desert lands in such State; 
that to enable the Secretary of the Interior to examine an 5- of the lands that may be 
selected under the provisions of this section there is hereby appropriated, out of 
any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, one thousand dollars. 

In the act makinji: appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the 
Government for the liscal year ending June 30, 181J7, and for other 
l)ui'poses, approved June 11, 1S'.)('», there is, under the head of appro- 
priation for " surveying public lands," the following provision: 

That under any law heretofore or hereafter enacted by any State, providing for 
the reclamation of avid lands, in pursuance and acceptance of the terms of the 
grant made in section four of an act entitled "An act making appropriations for 
the sundry civil expenses of the Gov'ernment for the fiscal year ending June 
thirtieth, eighteen hundredand ninetj'-five," approved August eighteenth, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-four, a lien or liens is hereby authorized to be created by the 
State to which such lands are granted and by no other authority whatever, and 
when created shall be valid on and against the separate legal subdivisions of land 
reclaimed, for the actual cost and necessary expenses of reclamation and reason- 
able interest thereon from the date of reclamation until disposed of to actual set- 
tlers: and when an ample supply of water is actually furnished in a substantial 
ditch or canal, or by artesian wells or reservoirs, to reclaim a particular tract or 
tracts of such lands, then patents shall issue for the same to such State without 
regard to settlement or cultivation: I'rorlded, That in no event, in no contingency, 
and under no circumstances shall the United States be in any manner directly or 
indirectly liable for any amount of any such lien or liability, in whole or in part. 

A furthei- inodilication lias been made l)y an act making appropria- 
tions for sundry civil expenses of the Government for tlie liscal year 
ending June 30, 1002, and for otlier purposes (approved Marcli 3, 
1001), "as follows: 

Sec. 3. That section four of the act of August eighteenth, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-four, entitled "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of 
the CTOvernment for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-five, and for other purposes," is hereby amended so that the ten years' 
period within which any State shall cause the lands applied for under said act to 
be irrigated and reclaimed, as provided in said section as amended by the act of 
June eleventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-six. shall begin to run from the date 
of approval by the Secretary of the Interior of the State's application for the seg- 
regation of such lands: and if the State fails within said ten years to cause the 
whole or any i»art of the lands so segregated to be so irrigated and reclaimed, the 
Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, continue said segregation for a 
period of not exceeding five years, or may, in his discretion, restore such lands to 
the public domain. 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES 118 

The laws of Wyoniiug', Idaho, and Utah are somewhat siiiiilar, and 
provide that the State land boards are authorized to make contracts 
with private individuals or corporations for the main canals or other 
irrigation works, and also to fix the charge for peri^etual Ayater rights. 
This right goes with the land and can not l)e sold separately. 

In Idaho and Wj^oming the fixed rate for the purchase of the land from 
the State is 50 cents per acre. In Utah it is not to exceed 81 per acre. 

Under the Washington law a single commissioner is authorized, who 
shall have power to make contracts for canals, ditches, or other irri- 
gation works, reclamation, settlement, and sale of lands. Contracts 
are to be approved h}' the governor and attorney-general of the State. 
Lands shall be sold with a perpetual water right at not less than §5 
nor more than $50 per acre and a maintenance fee of not more than 
$1.50 per acre annually. The person or persons or corporation whose 
bid shall be accepted shall own and must maintain all canals for a 
period of at least fifteen years from date of acceptance of completed 
works, and tliereafter the same shall revert to the landowners. The 
successful bidder shall pay to the State for the i)rivilege enjoyed in 
reclaiming the lands 75 cents per acre to defray expenses and reim- 
burse the State for outlay. 

In Montana the State, as befoi-e stated, lias been unable to accom- 
plish anything of note under the Carey Act, for the reason that the 
State has refused to make itself responsible in any way. The matter 
has been intrusted to the arid-land-graut commission, Avhich has been 
vainly endeavoring to dispose of the bonds. The principal facts con- 
cerning this commission are as follows: 

(1) The State arid-land grant commission is composed of five members. 

(2) It is empowered to select lands and to make surveys of necessary water sys- 
tems for their reclamation. 

(:3) To enter into contracts for the construction of water systems and to cause 
the lands to be settled. 

(4) To issue thirty-year (5 per cent bonds to meet the cost of reclamation and 
settlement of lands, which bonds constitute a lien upon the laud, water rights, 
water system, and appurtenances to a district belonging. 

(5) To issue thirty-year (i per cent bonds to develop water-power plants and 
water supply for domestic use, for the redemption of which bonds a sinking fund 
is provided. These bonds constitute a lien upon the water system and appurte- 
nances. All bonds can be foreclosed, as in the case of mortgages, for nonpayment 
of principal or interest. 

(6) To sell such bonds at par for cash and x'ay cash for construction, or to pay 
bonds in lieu of cash. 

(T) The commission exercises full and immediate control over all construction 
and re(iuires suitable indemnity from the contractor in the form of a bond from 
some responsible surety company. 

(8) The commission retains 15 per cent of the entire cost of construction of 
water systems and settlement of lands until both are fully accomplished. 

(9) The commission operates and maintains perpetually the water system, 
charging the entire cost of such maintenance and operation equally against all 
acreage in the district. 

(10) The commission sells all land and water rights, collects all moneys and 
places tliem in the treasury of the State. 

(11) In the event interest is not paid when due, for want of funds, interest 
coupons may be registered in the office of the State treasurer, which registered 
coupons will draw interest at G per cent per annum. 

(12> In the event there is a surplus in the State treasury after providing for the 
redemption of coupons next due, the commission may require the State treasurer 
to invest such monej^s in State, county, or school-district bonds, or it may cause 
such moneys to be placed in trust for the benefit of the bondholders, 

(lo) The commission will provide for the payment of interest and principal in 
the manner as shown herewith in certificate of selection, terms of sale, and 
regulations. 

111!)(;_01 8 



114 AKLD LANDS OF THK UNITED STATES. 

Snminiuii' up lUe ^.it nation, the results are best shown iu the uccoiu- 
])aiiyiiig table, n\ liicli brings out plainly the fact that after six or seven 
Ncars of effort less than 1,000,000 acres have been applied for by 5 out 
of th" 11 States named in the act, and about one-fourth of the acreage 
contained in this list lias been approved. Less than 8,000 acres liave 
actually becMi [)aten1ed or disj_)osed of by the Government out of the 
possible total. In other words, an enormously expensive machinerj" 
lias ])een creat<Ml b\' law to disi>ose of these lands, and after years of 
cfi'oi-t and large exi)enditures incurred by the various States in legis- 
lation and in the maintenance of l)oards and surveys, less than 8,000 
acres havi' actindly been disposed of. 

SIdhis of selections under oct of AiK/Kst IS, ISO4, 

Acreage applied for by each of the States: Acres. 

Idaho, (i lists . 328, 308. 80 

Montana, o lists -. 91.015. 00 

Utah, ;J lists 236,407.50 

Washington, 4 lists - - 85. 450. 26 

Wyoming, IT lists - 212.210.34 

Total.- -- --- 948,457.90 

Acreage of lists approved (not patented): 

Idaho.olists 57.700.51 

Montana, 5 lists ..- 91.015.00 

Wyoming, 11 hsts -. 99,057.58 

Total .." - -.- 247,779.09 

Acreage of lists patented: 

Wyoming, 3 lists 7,640.91 

Acreage of Hsts still pending: 

Idaho---- .: T - 265.602.29 

J\iontana.. . .- .- -.. None. 

Utah- -.- - ... 230.467.50 

\Vashington - 85. 456. 26 

W yomiug - - 82. 960. 59 

Total 670, 486. 64 

All htit a very small nnmb r of the pending lists are awaiting the action of the 
States. 

IMi;. Newlands. Is it not a fact thai in many cases the lands to be 
reclaimed ar<' in one State and the reservoir necessary for the storage 
of the water to reclaim tlu' land is in another State, and thnsaninter- 
statc (juestion is iuN'oh'ed':' 

^Ir, Maxweel. \'ery fre*] ueiitly. 

Mr. Kay. IIo\\' coid«l the United Stales g(t to work and take lands 
and watei's froni one State and give them to anothei' for the beiietit of 
another':' 

Mr. Maxwell. I do not umlersland that it does so. 

Ml-. Newlaxds. The pi-oposilion is simi)ly to stoi'e the Hood waters. 

Mr. ^Maxwell. I will illustrate by the case of the land lietween 
California and Neva<la. The reser\'oirs which must l)e useil to irri- 
gate the lan<ls of Xe\ ada must be in Ualifornia. Ualifornia can i-eceive 
no beiielit from them. 

Mr. Rav. To whom do they l)eloiigr' 

]\Ir. ]MAX^^'ELL. The reservoir sites belong to the (Tovernment. 
'l'he\- are in the Sieriji Xevadii Mounta.ins. 



AKID LANDS OB^ THE UNITED STATES. 115 

Mr. Xewlands. But tliese waters all Ijolonu- to the Government. 

Mr. Maxwell. Iu California the Governmenl controls all tliewa'ter 
connected with the pul)lic lands. 

Mr. Ray. That raises a different proposition, providino; those waters 
you seek do belong to the General Government. If the}' belong to 
the General Government, and it is desirable to use them, for instance 
bj^the State of Nevada, for iriigation purposes, then the United States 
Government would be at perfect liberty to give Nevada either al)solute 
fee and title to the water or to give them the right to use the water; so 
that in California there is no interstate question at all, because Cali- 
fornia lias no riglit there whatever. 

Mr. Maxwell. But California has certain rights. As I understand 
the first question, it was how the Federal Government could take 
water from one State to ii-rigate in another State. I was illustrating 
that by the conditions between the States of California and Nevada. 

Mr. Ray. The proposition of Mr. Newlands was that interstate ques- 
tions were raised here, because of the fact that tliese waters were in 
•Califorjiia, and Nevada needs them to irrigate its lands. Now, if that 
is true, then the United States Government could not interfere and 
could not avail itself of the water. If it is not true, then there is no 
interstate question at all; it is simply a question between Nevada and 
the United States. 

Mr. Barham. There are a whole lot of lakes there we can take for 
illustration. We will not take Lake Tahoe, because tiiat would involve 
other inte*i'state questions; but take these others. They are owned by 
the Govei-nment of the I'nited States. Now, we want to put a dam at 
the outlet of one of those lakes. It does not affect any private inter- 
est at all in California to take water and hold it there to be run out 
into Nevada for irrigation j)Ui'poses. But you could not take Lake 
Tahoe, because that is owned by private ownership on our side, while 
on the Nevada side I think you have cut off" the timber. 

Mr. Newlands. Just let me explain the topography there. Tlie 
Sierra Nevada Mountains divide California from Nevada. As you go 
along the summit of the mountain there is a slope toward California 
and a slope toward Nevada. The places where wo propose to' estal)- 
lish reservoirs are in California; the lands to l)e reclaimed are iu 
Nevada. All the plains, recollect, are in Nevada; the California side 
is all mountainous, and all those reservoir sites are in California. 
These rivers are not navigable, and it is i)roposed to store the flood 
waters, which otherwise flow into the sinks of the desert, where they 
can not be utilized. The interstate question I suggest is this: That it 
would be difficult for the State of Nevada to enter ux)on an enterprise 
of constructing reservoirs in tlie State of California. Assuming that 
the National Government grants to Nevada the ownership of all the 
public lands on that slope in California, why, then, this difficulty pre- 
sents itself. Nevada is making an investment upon California soil. 
As soon as that i^roperty is transferred from the United States to 
Nevada it becomes property subject to taxation ; as long as it is in the 
ownership of the Federal Goverinnent it escapes taxation. Now, my 
judgment is that comi^lications will arise, and reservoirs located in 
California, but l)elonging to Nevada, would simply l»e taxed out of 
existence. 

Mr. Ray. One of two things is true: Either the waters and lands 
that it is desirable to utilize for iri'igation purposes in the State of 
Nevada belong to and are under control of the United States, or they 
belong to and are under the control of the State of California. If 



IK) AKID LANDS OF THE UNITP:D STATES. 

they Ix'loiiu' to and are iindei- tlie control of the State of California, 
then the Government of the ITnited Stales eonld not interfere and 
could not avail itself of it. If, on the other liand, they are under the 
control and belong to the United States, then the ITnited States can 
grant every right it has to the State of Ne\'ada 

yir. Newlaxds. Excei)t exemption from taxation. 

31r. Ray. .Vnd would not have to pay a single penny l)y way of tax- 
ation or otherwise to California, because (^ilifornia can not tax that 
land if it belongs t(i the ITnited States. 

.Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. But the moment it grants it to Neva-da it 
can. 

3Ir. Maxwell. I think tlie Supreme Court of the United States has 
answered Mr. Kay's (juestion. In fact, the legal situation is tins: 
The Government has all the right with reference to t\\v water relative 
to the public land that any I'ipai'ian owner has, without regard to 
State laws. 

Mr. Kay. Yon are referring to inivigablc waters. 

Ml'. Maxwell. No; to-running streams. Tliis is the decision of 
the Supreme Court in 174 United States Keports. In tlie absence of 
specific authority from Congress a State can not, by legislation, 
destroy the riglit ot the I'nited States, as the owner of lands border- 
ing on a stream, to the continuous flow of its water, so far at least as 
may be necessary for the beneficial uses of the Gov«M'nment jiropei'ty. 
In other words, the right of tlie riparian owner attaches to all lands 
owneti by the Governiiieiit , in the liainls of the (Tovernmenl, without 
rt^uard to State lines. 

Mr. Kay. Tliat is [»erfectly tnu", buti it does not need any decision 
of tlie Unite(l States Su[)reme Court to decide that; everybody knows 
tliat ; that is a right of a riparian owner. Now then comes the other 
ipiestion, even if that be true, if tjie United States (Tovernnient does 
own that, it is simply a holding, the (nlovernment would have no right 
whatever, not the slight,est right, to divei-t a single [)int of that water 
into tlie State of Nevada for the })iirpnse of it-rigation in the State of 
Nevada. It is simply an instance o\' the right of the adjacent owner, 
and the fact that the United States owns land in California bordering 
on this stream does not give it any right whatever to take the water 
ill that str(vtm and earry it into Neva<la to in'ig;ite lands in Nevada 
or any other })lace. 

.Mr. Kixc;. In the arid region, either by Judicial decisions or com- 
mon law, tlie rii)ariaii right has been abrogated, and we do not i-ecog- 
ni/.e the doctrine of riparian iiroiu'ietorship, and you may have a 
st.i-eam flowing befor<' _\'our door and if you do not appropi-iate it I can 
go aliove and appropriate evei-y di'o[) of it. 

.Mr. Kay. Then, if that is your law, it is in conl radictiou to the 
Su|)reme Court of the I'nited States. That can not 1)e true; it is 
inii)ossible for that to be true, because if the United States owns land 
bordering on a. stream, and this decision is good for anything, then 
the Cnited States (Government has the absolute right to have that 
water continui' to run by tiie side «tf that land, and it is entirely imma- 
terial whethei- they ap[)ropriate it or not. There is that decision. 
Now, the fact: that the State has a difrerent law as to itself and its 
owners of land does not interfere at all with tlie I'ights of the United 
States (Government. 

Mr. Kixn. I do not knowth.e deeision, hut in ISiw; Congress enacted 
that the local laws and customs of tiie States and Territories with 
respect to the usi' of water should be recognized 1)y the Unitccl States 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 117 

Governmeut, and the deci.sious of the Federal courts have vecoiiiiized 
those local laws and customs. 

Mr. Ray. It must commend itself to 3'our common sense that if 
I own a farm upon a stream in any State of this Union — nnd I do 
not believe there is a State that has a law to the contrary- — and the 
water of that stream runs throngh my farm, it is entirely immaterial 
whether I use it foj- milling purposes or any other purpose, to hold that 
you, owning land above me, - miles above, may divert all that water 
and carry it off in another direction and leave mj' farm without water 
for my cattle to drink, or for me to dip up for any other farming 
l^urx^ose, would be contrary to the i^rimary rights of nmn. 

Mr. King. That is precisely Avhat I mean to assert; that what you 
state is not the law. 

Mr. Ray. Tlien you could leave a farm al)solutely dry? 

Mr. King. Yes; if the farmer does not nse the water. 

Mr. Ray. Simply because he does not divert the water, even though 
it is that water that gives his farm \ alue? Tell me a State wliere that 
law prevails. 

Mr. Maxwell. The case of the Livestocl^: Company r. Booth, in 
California decides that point — that tlie riparian owner lias no more 
right than anj' othei- owner. He has the right of use, but he has no 
right to water that he is not using. 

Mr. Ray. That is just the point I made. If that water runs through 
your farm and percolates into j'onr soil, your cattle drink from that 
water, and yon are nsing it for your ordinary farming purposes: you 
go down witli your bucket, dii> up a pail of that water, and it perco- 
lates into your soil and it waters your farm. Kow, then, the idea 
that a farmer above can divert all that water foi' some use of his 
own is contrary to the prin)ary rights of liumanity, and I never heard 
of such a proposition before. 

Mr. Kewlands. The riparian doctrine belongs to the wet region, 
and this doctrine asserted by Mr. King belongs to the arid region, and 
you will find that beneficial use is tiie basis and measure of tlie right 
to water. 

Mr. Ray. Do you state, Mr. Newbinds. tliat tliat is a law in the 
State of Nevada? 

Mr. Newlands. The arid region; yes, sii'. 

The Chairman. If the man above happens to get title l:)efore the 
man below he can appropriate the water, and then when the man 
below gets the right to appropriate it it is already gone. Is tliat true? 

Mr. King. No; my proposition is this: You may have a stream 
running through your ground, and if you do not use it I may go upon 
the stream above you forty years later and jippropriate all that Avater 
if you have not subjected it to a beneficial use; then I can appro- 
priate that much of the water wliich you liave not so used. 

Mr. Barham. If you go up above you can only use that wliich the 
man below lias not been using. The very proposition that Mr. Ray 
makes is that the man below has used it. Now, then, you do not 
mean to controvert that jiroposition at all, because if the man below 
is using it for irrigation or drinking by liis cattle, or for any other 
purpose, of course you could not run that stream off, divert tliat 
stream under any law on earth. You did not mean to say that. 

Mr. King. Oh, no. 

The Chairman. Suppose a dairyman was located on a stream and 
had 10 cows, and he was appropriating water enough to water his 10 
cows. Do I undei-stand tliat a man can go upon that stream above 



ll'S ARID LAND^^ < )F THE UNITED STATES. 

hiiu anil ai)pr()i)]'iate all the water except that which he has beeu 
usiiiii' for his 10 cows; and then, when the tlairynian gets ready to 
enlarge his dairy, and needs more water, that he has no right to use 
any more? 

Mr. KiXG. That is exactly right. And in some States they do not 
recognize the right to use water for drinking purposes to be superior 
to the right to use it for agriculture. 

Mr. Ray. Jf the Government owns a million acres of land through 
which runs a fresh-water stream, and it is the only stream runni}ig 
through it, and the Government deeds .to me a thousand acres .just 
al)ove the million acres it owns, do you mean to say that I have a 
perfect right to divert that river and carry it away from the million 
acres owned by the Government, and that tliereafter, when the Gov- 
ernment sells tliat lau'l, the purchasers must go without water'? 

Mr. King. Tliat is it. 

Mr. IjARHAM. I think, as far as the illustration you gave just now 
is concerned, that in tlie arid-land region the <lecision would be just 
what Mr. King claims, because for the same reason the Government 
lias not appropriated that water; it has not used it; it has not begun 
to use it. If there were people below there who had used it. then you 
could not divert the water. 

Mr. Ray. Do you think, if they sold to nie ID acres of land above 
the million acres through which the river runs, that I thereby can 
become the exclusive owner of the right to use all that water? 

Ml". Barham. Not unless j'ou put it to l)enehcial use on your land. 
The Governnu^nt has not used the water at all, and it knows when it 
deeds you the thousand acres of land, or whatever it is, that you can 
in)t use that land uidess you have a right to divert that w\ater. But 
the proposition von started out with is elementarv, and I admit tlie 
law. 

Mr. Ray. Yon have a right to divert that water as it flows through 
your land for the ordinary uses of that land, if you do not unnecessa- 
rily detain it, but when it passes on you must restore it to the original 
sti'eam for the beneficial use of the owners below. 

]\Ir. Wilson, of Idaho. That is not the law in the arid region. 

Mr. Barham. There is no doul)t that you are right about the ele- 
mentar}' princii)le of common law. 

Mr. Xewlands. Yes, that is common law, but. not the law of the 
arid region. 

Ml'. Barham (continuing). But you foi-get this: The use of that 
Avater is for irrigation, and you own the thousand acres of land, and 
you have the right to take all the water which is a profitable use of 
the water, all that is necessary for the i)-rigation of the thousand 
acres, ami tuiii ba<dv the balance. 

Mr. Ray. ^^>u must restore it, must you not, to the original stream? 

Mr. Barham. Yes; there is no doubt ;!l)out that. 

]Mr. Ray. In other words, you can turn it out into channels on your 
own land, but. those channels must come back. 

]Mr. \ViLS()N. Sometimes it is carried away for distances of over 
50 miles. 

Mr. KlN(4. You never restore it at all and you do not have to do so 
under the law in the West. In this contrast Pomeroy on Riparian 
Rights and Mi'. Gould and you will see the difference l>etween the 
common law and the law of the arid-land regions. 

The Chairman. Take another view — a situation which is expected 
to aris(^ very frequently. Suppose a homestead settler in your State, 
or in Utah, should start to go into the fruit business, and he begins 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 119 

in a small way ami finally sneeeeds in g-ettinii- an oivliaid of o aci-cs. 
It is all his means will permit. Now, while he o-ets his orchard of 5 
acres and turns the water on it, I understand that the riparian owners 
above cau use all the water except the amount lu^ needs for his 5 acres, 
and when he gets ready to make an addition to his orchard, to culti- 
vate 10 acres, he can not get the water for it. I think that is a fair 
illustration, just like the illustration of the dairyman. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. The State legislature has provided how water 
shall be appropriated, and there are various steps to it in ditterent 
States. In our State, for instance, you will file a regulation notice 
for so many cubic feet per second, enough to irrigate your land. You 
commence to divert that water, and you are given a reasonable time 
to divert it, and what that reasonable time is of course differs with 
each case. But you must pursue it with reasonable diligence, and of 
course you must reclaim your land with reasonable dilig'ence. 

Mr. King. Mr. Chairman, if 3'ou should go there and start your 
garden of acres and construct a ditch onlj^ large enough to iivrigate 
5 acres, and it was found from your outward conduct that that was 
all you intended to appropriate, then I could go above you a year 
afterwards, or a day afterwards, and take all tlie i)alance of the stream 
for my use. 

The Chairman. However, if I started a garden or an orchard, I 
would be allowed what water I needed, and notice would be taken of 
my intentions and conduct in the way of enlarging my production. 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. We do not have to restore it to the stream. 
Sometimes we divert w-ater for 50 miles and pass hundreds of home- 
steads. The theory of returning to the stream is entirely abandoned, 
ex necessitate re, on account of the conditions which exist. That 
idea of returning the water to the stream has been done away with, 
that right has been abrogated, and the circuit court of appeals of 
San Francisco has affirmed the law we had in that resj)ect. I tried 
the case in which that was decided, and am familiar with it. 

The Chairman. Another question. Under these State laws can 
the owners appropriate all watei", so that subsequent homestead set- 
tlers upon public land that is now unoccupied will have no right to 
the water? 

Mr. Wilson, of Idaho. Abs(^lutely. It is done over the whole arid 
region. 

The Chairman. Is not that a serious matter to consider when the 
Government undertakes to construct these reservoirs? Is there not 
danger in constructing these reservoirs to store water that may be 
used l)y owners before it gets there? 

3Ir. Wilson, of Idaho. I do not think that there is any difficulty 
about that. People go there to farm, sa}', 50,000 acres of land, and 
they hud there is only sufficient water to irrigate 10,000 acres, and 
they find that this 10,000 acres is where the water comes out of the 
canyon, and ho they locate there. You can see what the result would 
be if you did not permit such a law as that — if you did not permit tlie 
first man upon the stream to use the water. 

Mr. Barham. Take an illustration that fre(iuently occurs in Cali- 
fornia. Here are ditches filled with water, and the Avater is ai)pro- 
priated, all the water — all the water that can be conserved in the 
mountains hy any bill that has been introduced here. Now, if we 
build a dam up here in the mountains to conserve the flood waters, 
how are you going to prevent the possibility of simply feeding the 
ditches and the ai)propriation of water that has already been made? 

Mr. King. The Government before it builds a (him for conservation 



120 AKID LANDH UF THE rNITp:D STATES. 

purposes iiiiist. ascerlaiii the luaxiinuin appi-opriation of all the pro- 
prietors, l)y eomiiion measureinent, and tlieii it can not liave anything- 
until those people luive that maximum flow. All a1)ove that would 
he the Government's, l)eeause it then would be the proprietor. 

Mr. Barham. How can you make that out":' 

Mr. King. You liave to make the measurements. 

Mr. Barham. I don't mean tliat; that is easy. But how can you 
make out, if tlie Government constructs a reservoir here and catches 
the flood wat(-r, liow can you make out that they will not be required 
to let tliose flood waters into the stream":' 

Mr. King. They have got them, tlien, l)y being the proprietor. Our 
laws recognize an appropriation in July, an appropriation in August, 
and an appropriation inMa,yui)on the same stream. Many men have 
riglits to water in May and do not Imve any rights to the water in eTuly. 
"Mr. Barham. But you liave to divert the water wiiere the ditches 
are all ready t.o divert it. 

Mr. Ray." If the theory advanced is true, you advance an argument 
that would knock tliis whole scheme in the head at once. This ink- 
stand, we will s;iy, is a reservoir of water; all the water available is 
turned into tlie resei'voir. Here ai'C millions of acres of land immedi- 
ately below tlial that the Government i)uri>oses to irrigate and pur- 
l)oses to sell ibi' homesteads; they get around the water in here and 
open u\) their dilches; they sell to a few men up here [indicating] 
1(J,(K)0 acres, and then they sell to these people down here, and they 
commence irrigation and it uses uj) all the water to irrigate these 
little farms up here, covering a tenth of it, or may be a quarter of it. 
The i-est of it goes dry. These men have no benefit whatever; or, if 
you undertake the whole, then it is not- suflicient to irrigate the whole 
and you ivndei- the whole worthless and your whole scheme goes 
wrong. 

Mr. Reedei;. When they Iniild that reseivoir they know Avhat 
they can irrigate aii<l tliey ii-rigate evt'ry foot they propose to and no 
moi'e. 

]Mr. KiN(;. I can give 3 on an illustration of a stream that iri-igates 
l',()(iO acres of ground in June and July and about ;),000 acres in May 
and Api'il. If wehad enough land thei'C close by wecould irrigate 7,000 
or ,s,()()() acres in April and May; and if we could store that water and 
let it come down later, instead of only having enough for 2,000 acres 
later in the season we could irrigate 5,000 or 0,000 acres. The Gov- 
<n'nment knows now that the maximum appropriation of water upon 
that stream is :),ooo acres in high watei" and L\000 acres in low water. 
It knows it has the right l.ij" husbanding the water to have all the 
surplus which it husl>aii(ls; therefore it has got- to figure upon giving 
to those peoifie there ;],000 acres in si)ring and enough for 2,000 in 
August; but all the balance it can have and do what it pleases with, 
and In* building a i-eservoir it can store enough to have 5,000 in July. 

Mr.RAY. Who is to have the first right to water out of these reser- 
voirs on these public lands? 

iMr. KiN(i. Wlioever t!ie Government determines. If the Govern- 
ment l)uilds a reservoir it can determine wiio shall l)e the l^eneficiaries, 
who shall be the l)eneficial users and have the usufruct. 

The Chairman. The Government would l)e the proprietor under 
your law? 

Mr. King. Yes. 

The Chairman. You \\ould not have to carry it on the land':" 

Mr. King. But I think if the Government manifested no disposition 



AEID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 121 

to sell it or lease it, it would be appropriated, and the first ones would 
liave it. 

Mr. Reeder. And some of these big companies could appropriate 
that Avater and tlius make it profitable to them, immensely so, l)ut we 
are trying to provide that no man can appropriate over 80 acres. 

Mr. King. Yet the law recognizes a reasonable time for the man to 
get the water and convert it to his use — to get tlie land and appropri- 
ate the water. 

Mr. Ray. Does not this land tliat you propose to irrigate take up 
water verj^ rapidly? 

Mr. King. Yes, some of it does; some is clay soil. 

Mr. Wilson. Generally speaking, it does. 

Mr. Ray. In most localities there is not much limit to the amount 
it will take up? 

Mr. King. That is it, but little by little the requisitions l)y the land 
for water are less and less. I know some land that once had to be irri- 
gated to-day has to be drained. 

Mr. Ray. And those lands up there would absorb a great deal more 
water than they needed? 

Mr. King. No, the law forbids the application of more than is being 
used, and if it was being wasted it would not be regarded as a liene- 
ficial use and the owner would l)e enjoined. 

Mr. Reeder. Another thing. They measure that Avater as certainly 
as you can measure oats you feed your horse. 

Mr. King. They estimate that so many inches of water running a 
certain length of time will irrigate a certain amount of land, and 
above that it is waste, and the courts now are holding the irrigators 
down to the scientific testimony as to the use of water upon the land. 
The last case I tried involving that question brought out testimony to 
show what the use of the water was. Those men said that they should 
have so much water and tlion experts went on the stand and said 
"one-half of that is sufficient," and cut the farmers down one-half. 

Mr. Maxwell. It seems to me this discussion illustrates very much 
more strongly than any argument I can make that if you undertake 
to imagine difficulties you can imagine more in a day than can be 
explained in a thousand years; and we will never get the problem 
solved, because there will always be some new difficulty suggested. 
If you will take it up l\y localities and go on t)ie 'ground and tind the 
actual place, rather than imagine it, you can find more places where 
this law can be put in force and the land be reclaimed th;in y<ni can 
accomplish in tiie way of reclamation, by this other theory, in ten 
years. I earnestly urge that this be made the keynote of this dis- 
cussion. 

Take the one point brought here — tlie rights of the riparian owner. 
This wliole question was brouglit up and decided in the Lux case in 
California. That case occupied many months and cost liundreds of 
thousands of dollars before it Avas settled. They decided that wliile 
the law recognized riparian rights existing in California, they whit- 
tled it away, and it only exists as a fiction because the Supreme 
Court has lately decided that tlie limit of the riparian owners rights 
is the limit of his beneficial use. 

I hav^e told you what you could do in Arizona — that yon could take 
land there wliich is now a desert and make it Avorth millions of dol- 
lars, and that the Government could get tlie money back as fast as 
tliey can reclaim the land. 

Take it over in California. Judue Barham referred to a place yes- 



122 AKID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES, 

terday wliere there is not a drop of watei' used to-day — a })lace tliat is 
simply a natural i-eservoir. You can take the water there out of a 
tunnel and turn it into a valley — the Honey Lake Valley — simply take 
it out of the mouth of your tunnel into a narrow mountain stream. 
There ai'e no complications to be met with tliere at all. That is Gov- 
ernment land, and you dig your canal out there and tiiere are no 
intervening" rights, no complications; you decide how much laud you 
will irrigate, and you simply put the water on it. There are many 
such cases. If we can not commence with the easy places we will 
never get through all the complications that have been suggested 
among the reasons why the States and i)rivate capital have not suc- 
ceeded. The ([ucstion was asked yesterday, "Why can not private 
capital do this?" For two reasons; first , because the majority of cases 
will not be a profit to the investor as such, and private capital seeks 
a profit. In an irrigation scheme there is first a promoter's profit, 
then an investor's profit, then a l)ond-buyer\s profit, then the interest 
charges; and l)efore they have the first settler on the land the price 
of the land is so high they can not pay it, and they go into ]>ankruptcy. 
That has been the experience of one case after another. Anotlier 
reason. The law of the arid region to-day is — and in the State of 
California, if you go there to-day, they will tell you that is the chief 
reason why private capital will not build irrigation works, that no law 
on earth will lead the people of California to forsake that constitutional 
provision. They would rather tliat no money would come there and 
l)e invested than to put the chain around their necks that the water 
company owns the water. They would rather that no more works be 
built, and they will say to those companies, "Keep your money; we 
do not want your investment," i-ather than give u|) their constitutional 
right. 

That is the condition, those are the reasons. You can go into any 
Stale and the Government can come in and build these works and 
take the water out in main line canals, so that the settlers can do 
what the early settlers did in Utah, what thej^ did. in California in the 
San Joaquin Valley, what they did in Idaho — dig their own ditches 
and put the water on the land and raise crops and get rich; and it was 
when that reached its limit, when that could not l)e done any more, 
that they began to get into trouble, and it began to be developed that 
private capital could not control these works and do what the Gov- 
ernment has to do. 

What is it that we ask the Government to do? Nothing more than 
what nature did for the early settlers. Store the flood waters, take 
the watei's that can not be taken from these great canyons and rivers 
V)y private capital out upon the prairie by the main-line ditches, so 
that the people can 2:0 there and put their i)lows in the ground. That 
is it. 

One advocate says the Govei'ument should cari-y water to the point 
where private enterprise can handle the water. What private enter- 
prise? The land speculator or tlie settler? I say the settler. I say 
that it is the duty of this Government that it owes its people to-day 
to put that great domain in shape so that men who have knowledge 
and indu.stry and strong right arms, such as the earlier settlers had, 
can go there and build their own ditches, and tlnvt is what they will 
do when the Govei-nment builds these i-eservoii's. 

But what would be the case in Wyoming to-day if the Government 
should build these reservoirs? There is comparatively little land in 
Wj^oming or any other State Avhere, if the State builds nothing but a 



AKID LAND8 OF THE UNITED STATES. 123 

reservoir, the settler can get a drop of it. The speculator would get 
in and by some proposition build a great canal and take a profit out 
of the farm — tax the farmers for that to such an extent that it will 
take them a generation to earn that. What the Government should 
do is to bring the water to a point where the farmers can build their 
own canals and use it throughout their farms and homes. 

In conclusion, I wish to call attention to an extract from a report 
liy Hon. Charles D. Walcott, of the United States Geological Survey, 
relating to the bill introduced by Mr. Xewlands (H. R. 1-1088). This 
brings out clearly some of the reasons why, in the opinion of an officer 
of the executive branch of the Government, such a bill would be of 
immediate advantage. 

EXTRACT FROM REPORT BY HON. CHARLES D. WALCOTT, DIRECTOR 
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

The bill provides for the beginning of reclamation by the use of 
funds derived from the country in which the works are to be Iniilt. 
It also sets a limit to the expenditure and permits the steady growth 
by the refunding of expenditures and continual addition, making pos- 
sible a systematic and economical development. Even though the 
amount available for construction should at first be small, it is appar- 
ent that the ultimate outgrowth will be large and that the reclaimed 
lands will be offered to the public so gradually that there will be no 
disturbance of industrial conditions. 

There has been in the past an apprehension that the reclamation of 
the arid public domain would bring the agricultural lands of the West 
into competition with those of the East. Tliis fear has been due to 
ignorance of the fact that the products from irrigated lands are essen- 
tially difi'erent from those from humid lands, and do not reach the 
same market; but even if there should be competition along a few 
lines, this will not be injurious, if brought aliout by slow, systematic 
development contemplated through the arid-land reclamation fund. 

Attention is called to the fact that the bill under consideration does 
not provide for maintenance and final disposal of the works. It may 
be wise at the present time not to attempt to solve this class of prob- 
lems, as it will probal)ly be several years after such a bill is passed 
before they will arise. In the meantime, experience will have been 
acquired, so that the Secretary of the Interior can make definite rec- 
ommendations growing out of thorough consideration of the problems. 

The investigations which have been carried on by the United States 
Geological Survey, extending over a period of thirteen years, have been 
mainly in the line of ascertaining the facts as to the possibilities of 
reclamation, such as the flow of streams and location of reservoir sites. 
As the outgrowth of tliis long-continued study, it seems desirable that 
some plan, such as tliat proposed by the bill under discussion, be fol- 
lowed to bring about gradual reclamation of lands susceptible of 
reclamation, but which "can not be utilized if dependence is placed 
upon private or corporate enterprise. There are many localities where 
work of this kind may l)e undertaken as the need and opportunity 
arises. 

While there are many places where the Government can reclaim 
public land, there are also other localities where the water supply must 
be regulated in order to render possible the full development of the 
land now in whole or in x>ai't in private ownersiiip. Where such con- 
ditions exist, it is apparent that such a bill does not apply. On long 



124 AKID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

rivers, like the Platte and Arkansas, whose waters even in time of 
ordinary flood have ].>een api:)]'Oi)riated, there is no proliability that 
retnrn ean [>e made to the reclamation fund, and a ditferent treatment 
must l)e accorded. 

There is slUl another class of conditions where the Government is a 
considerai)le landowner, tlie public hinds being- interspersed with areas 
in private i)ossi'ssion. Here it often occurs that tlie water rights are 
exceedingly complicated, and, as pointed out l;)y the experts who have 
been studying tlie laws and institutions of irrigated countries, there is 
necessity for mutual adjustment and understanding before the irriga- 
ble area can be increased Ihrough water storage. The possibility of 
building stoi-age works would act as the strongest conceivable induce- 
ment for these i)eople to unite to secure equitable distribution of the 
water under existing laws, thus enabling the Interior Department to 
know definitely what claims exist prior to those which may l>e acquired 
from tlie watei' stored in the reservoir. 

The object to l)e attained by legislation proposed by Ihese l>ills is 
evidently that of bringing within reach of new settlers upon the public 
<]omain a permanent water supply, such as that found by the pioneers. 
They had merely to take out canals and diverting ditches and thus 
enjoy a })riority of supply now guaranteed l>y custom and law. These 
o})portunities have lieen utilized, and the later comers find themselves 
confrontt'd with a task enormously greater than that of their prede- 
cessors and far Iteyond their means. It is possible to bring about, 
through storage and water conservation, conditions resembling those 
encountei-ed l)y the first settlers and make possible a steady influx of 
population, who by united effort can take the waters artiflcialiy regu- 
lated and cari-y them to their lands. In other words, the operations 
of these pi'oposed l)ills create conditions which will give to the settlers 
on these arid lands a sufficient waiter supply on easy terms, thus ena- 
bling them to make homes and with their own labor and teams build 
the (listril»u1i)ig canals and laterals necessary to liring the water to 
the land. 

The advantag(^ of lulls of the cliaracter pi-oposed is that it enables 
a development of the country without disturl)ing the existing status 
or awakening justiflabU- uneasiness as to future conditions. Thei'e 
has grown up in irrigated countries a feai' that the existing priorities 
of water rights may be disturbed by the Iniilding of new and larger 
systems of iivi-igalion. If the Government, in pursuance of a policy 
to permit the increase of homes on the pultlic lands, proposes to build 
r(\servoirs, every reasonable assui-ance sliould be given the peoph- 
already settled that they have nothing to fear, but, on the other hand, 
that their vested rights and existing customs Avill l)e guarded and not 
disturbed by the l>riiiging under iri'igation of additional areas of 
fertile but ai'id land. 

It has often been pointed out that increase of irrigated areas and 
extension of irrigation upon the pul)lic lands is now to a certain 
extent prevented by local jealousies and defective methods of distri- 
l)ution of the water, and that a larger prosperity would be enjoyed if 
by any means the farmers along a stream could l>e induced to adjust 
their dilferences under some system of local control, such as that 
which exists in a few of the arid-land States. There could be no 
stronger inducement held out to the States and to the irrigators to 
perfect the local control than the understanding that water conserva- 
tion would begin only when such efficient local control had been 
provided. 



ARID LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 125 

The proposed bills do not i)i'ovide for the charo'ing of interest nor 
for the liasty pushing- forward of the works to completion in order to 
bring about an early return, such as is essential to the success of 
corporate eiiterj^rise. In such matters private capital is concerned 
with ol)taiuing the largest return for the smallest expenditure, while 
the spirit of the bills under consideration is evidently to bring about 
the largest development and the greatest good to the greatest number 
consistent with an economical expenditure. As a result it appears 
from the examinations already made that where private capital would 
lind it expedient to reclaim, say, a thousand acres from a given source 
in order to make the largest return, the Government works, built 
with a view to the best development of the country, might reclaim 
ultimately two or three times as much. 

From, the very nuoment that private capital is raised and surveys 
are begun up to the time that the works are completed the interest 
charges accrue and must be met out of the proceeds of the enterprise. 
So that it' several years are spent in preliminary work and in final 
construction the accrued interest maj' add from 10 to 50 per cent to 
the total cost. Such charges, it is assumed, are not contemplated 
against the reclamation fund, and thus, although the works built by 
this fund may ])e more elaborate and permanent than those built by 
corporations, yet from these considerations it is apparent that in the 
long run they need not be more expensive. From this consideration 
it appears, as before noted, that thousands, or even millions, of acres 
can be reclaimed under laws of this character where corporate enter- 
prise would not enter, or at most undertake the work in a small way, 
reclaiming only a portion of the total area. 



INDEX 



Page. 
Agricultural Department, irrigation inves- 
tigations of, appropriations and leg- 
islation for 49-01 

Alaljama, inlaiul commerce in, appropria- 
tions for 79, NU 

swamp lands ceded to 77-78 

Appropriations, inland commerce 7y-.s0 

investigations of wafer resourt'es of 

United States 43-53 

irrigating ditches (Indian C)ffice) 49 

irrigation investigations ( Department i if 

Agriculture) /il 

irrigation surveys (Geological Survey). 4-t 
reservoirs on headwaters of Mississippi 

River { River and Harbor) 121 

stream measurements (Geological StU'- 

vey ) 4(1 

Appropriations jiroposed 5-7, 

]■-', 13, 14. 17-19, 53-54, 74-75, 8.T-sr, 

Arid and .semia rid region, acreage of 13 

irrigable land in 13 

pasturage in 13 

Arid and semiarid .'^tates and Territories, 

list of 7 

Arid-land-grant commission of Montana, 

powers of 113 

Arid-land-reclamation fund, text of Ijill 

providing for 6-7 

Arid lands, Government ownershiiMif, ex- 
tent of 35 

Arid States, population possilile in 25-26 

reservoir sites in 25-26 

Arizona, apprcipriation proposed for storage 

works iti 17 

appropriation proposed for surveys and 

investigations in l,s 

irrigable land in U>9, no 

irrigation methods pursued in 90 

irrigation in, feasibility and value of... ■ 32, 
34-35, 36-37 

public lands in, acreage of 77, 93 

reclamation in, by individuals 11 

reservoir proposed (in Gila River in, cost 

and capacity of 30 

reservoir proposed on Gila River in, dis- 
cussion of 95, 96-97, 10.5-106, 109 

reservoir proposed on Gila River in, leg- 
islation regarding 57 

reservoir jiroposed on Gila River in, text 

of bill for construction of 74-75 

reservoir surveys and artesian investi- 
gations in, estimated cost of 53 



Page. 
Arkaus.is, inland commerce in, ajipropria- 

tions for 79 

swamji lands ceded to 77-78 

Arkansas River, character of water of 40 

diversion of waters of 1 24 

seepage along 26 

Arkansas Valley, underground waters in .. 38-41 
Artesian waters. ,8«; Underground waters. 
Artesiiin wells, appropriations for construc- 
tion of -17, 4s, 49-50, 51 

cost of sinking _ 39, 40 

Barham.non..]. A.,l)ill introduced liy, dis- 
cussion of 94 

remarks liy 9,' 

10, 16-17, 19-20, 33, 56, 59, 60-61, 67, T.S, 72, 73- 
74, 84, 90, 100, 101, 102, 106,115,117,118,119 
Bills introduced, text of. . . . .5-7, 17-19, 61-G2, 74-75 
California, appropriations proposed for stor- 
age works and investigations in 18 

iidand commerce in, appropriations for 79 

population in sections oi 110 

jiublic lands in, acreage of 77 

reservoir sites in 27, 28 

reservoir surveys contemplated in, esti- 
mated cost of .53 

reservoirs Imilt by (iovernment in 21 

reservoirs projiosed in, cost and caiwc- 

ity (_)f 28-29. 30 

swamp lands ceded to 77-78 

underground waters in, estimated cost 

of examination and mapping of 53 

('nlifornia and Nevada, forest reserve in 

Tnickee River Basin in. need of. .. 29 
water storage in. interstate complica- 
tions of 27-28, 100-102, 111-115 

Canals laiilt liy (Jovcrnnu'Ut 79-80 

Carey Act, features and ^^•orkings of 66,83, 

103.110-111,113-11! 

text of 111-112 

Colorado, apjiropriations projiosed for stor- 
age works and investigations in l.s 

pnlilic lands in, acreage of 77 

reservoir surveys in, estimated cost of. . -53 

underground waters in 38-42 

underground waters in, estimated cost 

of examination and mapping of 53 

Connecticut, inland connnerce in, ajijiro- 

priations for ' 79 

Cost of artesian wells 39, 40 

Cost of reclamation 13-14, 24, 25, 26, .55, 66 

Dakota, underground waters in 3.S-42 

Dakota .sandstone, extent and characters of . 38-42 

127 



128 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Unrton, N. H., stnti-iiu'iit ni Sl-i^ 

[)t'la-\vare, inlaiiil euiniiuTre in. ai>]in:ipria- 

tiiMis i'M- 7'.) 

Iiistrirtof ColuHibia, iiilaml coiuiiierce in. 

ap]ir(ii>riatiiins for 71) 

Flnriila, inlaml ruininerce in. apiiropria- 

ti<ins inr 79, SO 

swamp l.imls ceilcil to 77-7.s 

Fiirost reseivfs in fnitod StaU;>, data rv- 

ganlinu '- 

Fiirests, flYcct of, nn watiT storage 72-74 

preservation of. amount e.xpemleil an- 
nually for 72 

preservation of. value of 21-22, 72-7J 

Geologieal Survey, irrigation surveys and 

investigations by 43-JO 

irrigation sui-vi\vs and investigations 

li\', ajiproiiriations for 4-5. is 

powers of io-4o 

reservi li r surveys by 2.S-30, 94-9.=) 

stream measurements liy, appropria- 
tions for 4ti, 4.S 

Georgia, inland eonunerce in, apiiropria- 

tious for 79 

Uilu River, Ariz., reservoir pioposed on. 

cost and I'ajiacity of ;'>0 

reservoir propo^'d on, legislation re- 
garding o7 

reservoir proi'osed on. text of lall for 

eoiistruetion of 74-7.T 

reservoii' sur\'ey on. disiaission of.. 9.3, 9G-97, 
10r>-10tl, 1U9 
(iovernmental reclaiuatiou of lanils in 

foreign eountries 7s 

i.xrazing lands, acreage of 9:i 



Humb.ildt River. Nev.. eliaiaeteristics of . . 1.3 ' Massacbusrtts. inlan<l commerce in.appr 



irrig.itiou jiossiliilities of I-t 

reservoirs jiroposed on. text of bill cov- 
ering const rueiidu of -"i-t'. 

water stora.ge .ind irrigation works on. 

iliscussioii of 7-s 

v.ater slor.ige .and iirinatioii works on. 

text of bill ]iroviding for ri-f, 

Humlioldt River (Lower). Nev.. reservoirs 

proposed on. cost and capacity of.. :'.n 
Idalio, agriiadtural ilcvelo])iiient and i)ossi- 

bilities of 20-27 

appropriations jiroposed. for investiga- 
tions in is 

iidaud connncri-c in, aiipi'opriatious for. 79 

publi<' lands in. .acreaije of 77 



Page. 
Irrigalile land in arid and semiarid rt.'gion. 13 
Irrigation ditclies constructeil liy Indian 

Otlice, appro]iriations for 49 

legislation for 4(1-49 

Irrigation investigations by Department of 

Agriculture, appropriations f(.ir ."jl 

legislati( m for 49-ol 

Irrigation surveys and investigations by 
(ieological Survey, api>ro]iriations 

for 45,4S,51 

history of 43-40 

.lenkins, Hon. .1. .b, remarks by 9-10, 11, 13 

Kansas, apiiroiiriation jiroposed for drilling 

lest well in 18 

artesian test well propcsed in, estimated 

cost of drilling 54 

inlaiKl connnerce in. approjiriations 

for 79 

public lauds in, acreage of 77 

un<lerground waters in oS-42 

Kentucky, inland c<.immerce in. aiiiiropria- 

1 ions for 79, sO 

King, Hon. \V. H., remarks by 5S, 

102-103, 106, W7, 1H;-117, US, 1 19-121 
Lake Talioe, Cal.-Xev., diversion and utili- 
zation of 27-2S, S3 

Loui-iana, inland commerce in, appropria- 
tions for 79, SO 

swaniji lands ceded to 77-7S 

Lower l!iniil)oldt River, Xev.. reservoir.s 

p^o]>o^cd on, cost and capacity of .. o() 
Maine, inland c(aiimerce in, appropriations 

for 79 

Maryland, inland commerce in, a.ppnipria- 

tious for 79 



priations lor /9 

Maxwell. (Ico. II .statements of 31-37, 

94-99, lOS-125 

Mead, Klw 1, statements of ,s,s-|,)3, 99-lOS 

Micdiig.in, inland connnerce in, approiiria- 

ti(ais for 79,SO 

swam]! lands ceded to 77-7S 

Miniu-sota, iidaud commerce in, ajipropri;!- 

tious for 79 

ri;scr\dirs buill by c;o\errunenl in 21 

sw.inip lands <'cded to 77, 7S 

Mississippi, inland couuiieree in, allprol)na- 
(i(als foi- 79-SO 

swanii> lands ceded to 77-7S 

Mississipi'i l;i\er, reservoirs built liy Cov- 

i-rnuifnt on headwaters of 21 



i-eservoir surveys in, e<timaled I'ost of.. 

un<iergro\uid waters ill 42 Missouri. swam]> lands ceded t 

Illinois, inlandc.immcrcein.ai.iiropriations Mondell. Ibm, F. \V.. bill introduced by 

for 79. SO 

swamp lands ceded t<i 77-7S 

Indi.in.-i. iiiland (■■imiiii'n'e in. apjiroiiria- 

tioll^ !,„■ 79, so 

sw.iiiip lamls cc(U'd to 77-7S 

Indian i nlicc. irriga ling ditches constructed 
ii\', Icgisl.ition and aiijiropriations 

for 40-49 

Inland <-ommerce in t'nited States, apjiro- 

pri.ilions fm- 79-su 

Iowa, inland I'omnierce in. .ipia-opriatious 

for 79, so 

-waiii]! lands cedeii to 77-7S 



discussion of S2-S3 

bill iulrodu 1 by, dedicating procei'ds 

of -ales (if public lamls t(.i construc- 
iion of iirigalion works, etc.. text 
of 01-02 

-iaieiiielits uf id-71, sl-,s.-> 

.Montana. a]ipropri;itious proposed for siir- 

v.'y-, etc., in ls-19 

arid-land-grant commission of. powers 

of 113 

diversion of v.aters of St. Mary liiver 



iiblic Itind- in. acreage of 



INDEX. 



129 



I'ago. 
Montana, reservoirs iirojxised in, cost and 

caiiacity of ;!0 

reservoir snrveys in, estimated cost of 

eontinning' 51 

n ndergronnrt v.'aters in J'J 

Nebraslva, appropriation proposecl ronlrill- 

ing test well in I'.t 

artesian test well in, estimated cost of 

drilling :. 1 

public lands in, acreage of 77 

underground waters in :'<s-l2 

Nevada, agricultural di.'velo|imcnt of ll-li; 

appropriations pjroposed for storage 

works, etc., in ls-19 

irrigation possibilities in 15 

population of, present and past 14 

precious metal.s in, production of 14 

public lands in, acreage of 77 

reservoirs proposed in, cost and capacity 

of 2S--^'j, :«) 

resi'rvoirs jiroposed in. te.\t of bill cov- 
ering construction of 5-('. 

rcserv(iir snrvt^vs in. estimaic<l co^I of 

eoutiiuiiiig 54 

wati'r storiige and irrigation works in, 

text of bills |)rovidiug for 5-7 

Nevada and California, forest resci-ve in 

'Inickec l;i\ei'Hasin in. need of.... L".l 

segregation of lands in li'.i :'.o 

water storage in, inlcrslate complica- 
tions of •J7-'JS, llill-livj, 11 1-115 

Newell, F. il., reniiirks by '.)I-".I5, 1(I5, loii 

stiitements of ii()-:;o. i:;-(;i 

New Hampshire, inland commerce in, aji- 

proprialions for 7'.i 

New Jersey, inland commerce in, ajipro- 

priations for 7'.), so 

Newlands. Hon. F. (.t., bill inlrodnccl by, 
for reclamation of arid l.-inds, dis- 
cussion of S~Ji. 

23-1^1, ;ii -:;5, (io-t;i, s5 ss,i)i-i(is, ii!;mi!.i 

bill introduced li.w f<ir reclamation of 

arid lands, tc.\l of 17 I'.i 

bill introduceii by, for storage of water 

on Hundioldt Kivcr, Nev.. text of... 5-(; 

remarks liy ;!;',, 

o7,(;(i,(i7, 70,.S2-S5,1I)4,]05, 1(1(1-1(17, 1 15, lb;. 1 17 

statements of 5 20, S5 ss 

New Me.xieo, appropriation proposed for sur- 
vey in 1 '.( 

irrigation farms in, .-ivcrage size of 7 

iud)lic lands in. acrcige nf 77 

reservoir surveys in. estimated cost of.. 51 
New 'I'ork, inland coiiiua'i'ce in. apjir.ppria- 

tions for 7'.t 

North Carolina, inland cnmmerce in. .-ippro- 

liriati.ms for 7'.l 

North I)akota, ajiiiroini.it ion iiroposeii foi' 

mii]iping luideruround w.ilets in I'.i 

canal survey and mapliing undei'y round 
w.-itcrs in, estimated cost of contiiui- 

ing 51 

public lands in, acreage of 77 

Neith I'laite Kivcr, Nebr.. irrig.'ilion 

inetliods ;dong <,tl 

()liio. inland commerce in, appropiiatious 

for 7',), so 

swamp lanils (•(.■de(l to 77, 7.S 

1 1 1 <><,' l\^ (I 



I'age. 
oklalioma, connnutation of laimestea.ds in. 87 

Ore.gon. agricultural possibilities of 2(1-27 

appropriations projioscd for investiga- 
tions in 19 

inland c<immereein, ai)iiropriat ions for. 79. .so 

pulilic lan<ls in, acreage of 77 

reservoir sites in, eslim.-iteil cost of ex- 

pli iration of 54 

swamp lands ccMled to 77-7S 

underground waters in, estimated <-ost 

of continuing exa mi nation of ,54 

Pennsylvania, inland commerce in, aiijjro- 

priations for 79, so 

Percolation. See Seepage. 

Pima Indians, f.acts regarding 75-76 

Pinchot, Gifford, statement of 72-74 

Platte River, diversion of waters of 124 

Pidilic lands, acreage of 77 

sales of 12, IH, .5<;, SO, Si;-S7 

Kay, Hon. (I. W., naiiarks by ,S9, 

115-11(1, 117, lis, 120 
Keclamation fund, lext of bill providing for. (1-7 
Reclamation of lands by foreign govern- 
ments 7.S 

Keeder. Hon. \V. .\., remarks by 39, 

II, 12, 102, 105,120,121 
Iteno, .N<'\-., agriculJural develo]>ment in .. 2S 
l;esel\ (lir sites ill aiid Slates, inimber of. . . 2.5-21') 
Keseixdii- surve.w comiili'led ( ,r jiartially 

comiilele(I 57-5S 

Res<'r\dir siii'veys in arid lands, estimated 



Reservoir surveys, work aceoiiiplislied .and 

amount expended for 51-,53 

Reservoir surveys and artesian investiga- 
tions, estimated cost of c<ailinuing. .53-54 
Reservoirs built by (;o\'criimciU, loi-ation 

and cosi of 21 

Rhode Isl.-ind, iidaiid commerce in, a|p|>ro- 

|iriatioiis for 79 

i;io ( iraiide. Volume of, II net nations in 9(i 

Kiliari.an rigbls, discussion of... 9-11, 11 1-120,121 
l;i\i T- an<l harbor iiiipro\'eiiients, aiiionnls 

expended for (10, 79-SO 

feaKu-cs (.f 22, 

23, 2(1, :',3-31, (10- (II , (13 (1 1, (19, 71 , SO, S4, .SC, 
Kock Creek, New, reservoir i>roposed on, 

cos! and e,-ipacity of 30 

water stonigc and irrigation works on, 

discussion of 7-.S 

\\.ilei' storage and irr-igali(ai works on, 

lex I of bill piV]\i(lim; fnr 5-(l 

SI. Mar.\- Ki\cr, .Moul., pi'o|inse(l ilJ\ersion 

of waters of 23 

Sales of public lauds 12, 13, .5(1, S()..S(1-S7 

San C.irlos. .\ri/., reservoir ladjiosed near. 

Si( Cila Kiver. 

Sce|.age, exteiU anil v.ablc of 21-2(1, 

35-3(1,51-55,121-122 

Sei^regalion of lands 5,(1,11,21,44 

Segregati<ins, Slate desert l.and, legisl.ition 

on (15-flG 

Semiarid and arid Slates and 'l'erri((a-ies, 

list of 7 

South Cai-oliua. inland eouunerce in, appro- 

pri.alioiis for 79, SO 

Siaitli ]i:ik<it;i. apprcppri.il ioU propii>ed for 

artevian test well in 19 



130 



INDEX, 



Page. 

HdUth Dakdta, arli'siiin tost well in, esti- 

iiKiled vosi (if drilling 54 

puhlir ialiils in, aereaK*' <il' " 

S(>\ith I'lalte Kiver, seepage alcmf,' 'J(i 

Stoek raising, featuri's of l:i 

Slreaiii ineasHicnients liy <ieiil(igical Snr- 

vc\'. a|i|iriipiiati(ins fur -1(1, }.s, ■')] 

li i>l(iry n( 1;V-1(; 

Swaiiiji l.-imls, ccssinn n!. Pi \ari(ins Slates. 77-7S 

reclaiiialiun III', liy Stales, la ill ire (if 7S 

'rennessee, inland emniiieree in. apprdpria- 

ticais for 79, SO 

Te.xas. ajipiMiirialidii proposed fur water 

storage in 19 

inland eoiiiiiieree in, ajipropriations for. 79,80 

reserv<iir surveys in, estimated eost of.. 54 

Tongue. Hon. 'I'. U., remarks hy .. ,H2, ]]7-nM,n9 

Toole, liov. .1. K., cited Ill 

rudergroiind waters, appro|iriations pro- 

po.sed for development of.. 17-19, 42, .53-.54 
extent and characters of, in arid and 

semiarid States 37-42 

investigations of, and reservoir surveys, 

estimated eost of eontinning .53-54 

I'tali, .-iiiiiroiiriations (iroposed for investi- 
gations in 19 

jiopulalion in seel ions of 110 

].>ililie lands in, aeri'age of 77 

i-escrvoir surveys in, I'sliiiiatecl cost of. . .')4 
"\'erinoiil, inland e(jmiii<'ree in, ap].ro]iria- 

tions fell- 79 



Page. 

Virginia, inland commerce in. appropria- 
tions for 79, K) 

Waleott, ('. 1)., (piote<I 123-125 

Washington, appropriations proposed for 

investigations in 19 

artesian conditions in. estimated eost of 

e.xaminalioii of .54 

iidand eoiinn<u-ee in, ajiproiirialions for. 79, SO 

]iulilie lands in, acreage of 77 

reservoir surveys in, estimated cost of.. 54 

underground waters in 42 

Water conservation, cost of 5r> 

Water resources of I'nited States, aiiprojiria- 

tions for investi.gation of 43-4(i, 49-53 

Wilson, Hon,K.,reuuirkshy. 10, 13, 11, li 1,05, sy, 119 
Wilson, Hon, .1. K., liill inlroiluced hy, for 
construction of reservoir near San 

Carlos, \r\'/... te.xt of 71-75 

statement of 74-81 

Wisconsin, inland commerce in, appropria- 

tion.s for 79, 80 

reservoirs constructed hy Government 

in 21 

swamp lanils cecled to 77-78 

Wyonnng, a|ipro)iriations proposed for sur- 
veys and storage works in 18-19 

liulilic lands in, acreage of 77 

reser\-oir jiroiiosed in, cost and caiiacily 

of 30 

reser\oir surveys in, eviiiualed cost of. . .^)l 
uiidcrm'ound w.ileis in 12 



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